I Saw it on Your Forehead
by raybun
Summary: The truth isn't always kind. Being able to read people and how they truly feel isn't as nice as it sounds, and Roxas has long since grown tired of it, but It's not like he can turn the ability off. AkuRoku, SoRiku, and other pairings.
1. Goodbye Destiny Islands

**A/N: **Bonjour, tout le monde ! If you didn't know, my name is Raven and I have decided to start writing Kingdom Hearts fanfiction. This is my first, and such and such, so please treat me kindly.

It is an AkuRoku yaoi fanfiction with side pairings of SoRiku, Zemyx, and some others. By the end of this chapter, if you feel so inclined, please leave a review =) Also, please forgive me for any OOC that Cloud and/or Tifa display. I don't really play FF, so as you can guess, I don't know much about their characters. I _do_ know that Tifa is supposed to be tough, so I was a little hesitant to make her such a softy towards Sora, but I decided that no one would be able to resist his puppy dog eyes.

Sorry for such a long first author's note, I promise the next ones will be shorter xD

Kingdom Hearts © Disney and Enix

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><p>The house was empty and there was this lonely air about it. It seemed to be leaning on to one side, its wooden framework creaking with its own weight as if it were hunched over, mourning the many losses of its inhabitants. Now it was just a shell of its former being before new memories and new life flourished inside of it. As the last few boxes were collected from various rooms of the house, footsteps echoed throughout the empty space. Its creaking seemed to increase with the number of boxes being removed. As if it was still emptying the contents of its current soul.<p>

One of the people remaining inside of the house stared at the houses empty rooms. Truthfully, they felt the same as this house. Emptiness clung to their stomach as their childhood memories were either packed away or thrown away to make space. This was such a disaster, and the person groaned as they looked out what had once been their bedroom window. The view of the blue sky above the houses built precariously on this hill until eventually the sea was there, kissing the sky stuck in his mind even as he looked away. It was a snapshot he wouldn't soon forget.

Roxas turned away from the window holding his arms tightly as if he were trying to keep himself together. A sigh passed through his lips and he glanced at the hardwood flooring of his room for a moment before slowly continuing over to his closet, shut behind a white door. The emptiness of the space seemed all the more inviting to him. He entered the small five-by-five closet and sat down on the floor, closing the door as he descended. The clicking of the door echoed through the room and the closet and he was engulfed by darkness.

There, Roxas curled into a fetal position and his mind drifted off. The darkness around him evaporated as he thought about all the times he'd spent here. There were countless moments he could recall of himself hiding there, or being shoved in there by his brother or his friends. He remembered how he accidently broke the doorknob when he slammed the door behind him while looking for somewhere to be as his anger subsided. He'd been trapped in the closet for at least thirteen hours before someone decided that whatever he was angry about couldn't be that bad. Of course, his pride kept him from making a fuss for help from the people who'd angered him.

All of his things had already been packed, and now the movers and his father were just filing away the larger things into the moving truck. This gave Roxas the perfect opportunity to enjoy what time was left in his childhood home. He'd already said goodbye to his friends here in Destiny Islands, and there was no way he was going to see them after that. It would just break his heart too much to say goodbye again.

After receiving the news about the move, he'd only cried twice. Once was while he was trying to comfort his brother when they heard that their house was sold, and the second was when he'd said goodbye to his friends. He wasn't about to tarnish such a good record. Still, even if he cried one last time, his record was practically spotless compared to his twin's.

"Roxy!" a voice called, echoing from the hallway and spilling in the room and onto Roxas' ears.

Still, even at being summoned, Roxas stayed in his fetal position. He wasn't leaving until he was physically dragged from this place. His heart raced as the footsteps drew closer. He desperately didn't want to be found, but hiding in his closet wasn't exactly an obscure hiding place; especially when the severe lack of furnishings left so little places to hide.

The closet door opened and the light that entered the room blinded Roxas for a moment, making him unable to see the figure standing in the doorway clearly. He didn't need to be told who it was, however, because his brother's ridiculous hair was a dead giveaway in any light.

"Come on, Rox, it's time to get out of the closet," Sora said with a grin in his voice.

"Ha, ha, very funny," Roxas grumbled. He didn't particularly appreciate his twin making jokes about his sexuality when he himself was about as straight as a rainbow. Although, the fact that Sora didn't know Roxas had long since found out about his sexual orientation made it the slightest bit more tolerable. On the other hand, the fact that Sora had no idea he was actually gay, too, probably made it worse.

Sora offered his twin a hand. "Seriously, though, Dad said we're leaving." His tone was more serious this time, devoid of Sora's usual cheerfulness and enthusiasm. Sora probably felt about as empty as Roxas. Still, Sora was Sora, and he would regenerate himself soon like he always did, even with the biggest of turns in his life. Like that time Sora almost drowned when he got sucked under a massive wave and got shoved into a reef. His leg had also been broken in addition to almost drowning, and it made Sora upset for about a day and a half. Then he was back to his cheerful, bubbly self.

Roxas envied that about Sora. Though they were twins, they weren't much alike. They were fraternal twins, so it was to be expected. In terms of looks, they were fairly similar looking aside from the fact that Roxas was a blond and Sora was a brunet. In terms of personalities, they were complete opposites. Sora was open and not afraid to be himself and get emotional. Roxas was a fortress that sucked everything in and nothing ever came out. He envied Sora because, while being more open would go against his more reserved, secretive nature, it would be easier to go with the flow and let the chips fall where they may. Harboring everything was hard on himself, but he didn't know any other (plausible) way he could deal with things.

Their opposing natures seemed to bring the best out of each other, though. Or at least, that's what people had always said. Truthfully, though, whenever Roxas sat quietly next to Sora as he was laughing his ass off over nothing, he couldn't help but think his aura looked all the dimmer in comparison. Despite their differences, they got along swimmingly. Well, they had their moments, but they didn't hate each other, and Roxas was very glad for that.

Roxas took Sora's hand and his brother wordlessly lifted him to his feet. The two of them exchanged glances as they looked around the empty room one last time. There were no verbal words between them, but that didn't mean there were none at all. Roxas constantly read the truth on Sora's forehead as thoughts ran through the brunet's mind.

"Are you ready, Sora?" Roxas finally asked, deciding to take charge of their departure. His eyes were locked on Sora's face, though he knew what the answer would be.

Sora smiled at his brother. "Yes," he said. His forehead said, '_No_.'

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><p>The tension in the car was unbelievable. Roxas was sitting in the front seat on the passenger side, Sora was sitting in the backseat, and their father was driving. Among them were several things from the move that were smaller. A fern was placed in the seat next to Sora, CD's, bags of clothes, notebooks, and various other things from Roxas and Sora's rooms were all over, covering the floor and the seats.<p>

Sora and Roxas' father Cloud was an intimidating man when he was upset, which was the current situation. All three of them knew that they were moving because their mother, Tifa, had been transferred to Radient Garden due to her job. Cloud, unemployed after being laid off and in search of work, could hardly argue against the substantial raise his wife would receive for taking the job. Still, it angered him that he felt powerless to help his family. That was a lingering tension that had been in the air ever since Tifa had received the opportunity.

This tension was that mixed in with the fact that Tifa had insisted on driving their family's SUV instead of the car. Cloud hated Tifa's car. On many occasions, he'd referred to his SUV as the centerpiece of his manhood. How Tifa had convinced Cloud to switch cars with him for such a long duration in such a stressful time was a mystery to Roxas, but he didn't exactly feel like asking his father, lest he decide to crash the car as they were speeding at 70mph on the freeway.

"Dad, can we listen to the radio?" Sora asked from the backseat.

Roxas immediately looked back at his twin with his fiery glare expressing his reaction to the 'what the fuckery' spilling from his brother's mouth. That was one thing about Sora Roxas could not and would not accept with open arms. Sora had a talent for completely ignoring the mood of any given situation and making it exponentially worse.

"Oh, you want to listen to the radio, do you, _Sora_?" Cloud asked in a sickly sweet voice. Roxas tried to look away from the horror that was his father's death glare, but he couldn't. Even though it was aimed at the road, it hurt his soul anyway. "What station would you like to listen to?" he snarled. "We could listen to jazz, or country, or even _fucking_ mariachi music! What's your choice, son?"

Roxas tore his gaze from his father to look at his brother, waiting for a response. He starting gnawing at his nails when Sora replied very nonchalantly, "Actually, Dad, could we listen to pop or hip hop?"

Cloud practically punched the radio as he turned it on and surfed through the stations to find a catchy, but lyrically retarded, song. Roxas couldn't ignore it when his father venomously grumbled quietly to himself, "Fucking idiots… 'Oh, Cloud, can we please shave your head and donate it to poor people in Africa!' 'Sure, darling, why don't we pay a hundred extra dollars for immediate shipping so that they can have my _fucking _hair right away!' 'Cloud, why don't we just get you castrated and then bathe you in estrogen!' 'Sure, sounds like a fan-fucking-tastic idea, thank you!'"

Roxas felt his heart break a little bit when he looked up at the rear-view mirror and saw '_Sometimes, I think we should have let Sora drown_,' reflected on his father's forehead. Feeling sickened, Roxas opted for turning to look out the window as they sped away from familiarity.

Since birth, Roxas had been able to literally see the truth on peoples' foreheads. When he was little, it just seemed like scribbles to him, but once he learned to read, he found that the words spelled out sentences. It took him a while to realize that what he saw on others' foreheads was the truth (it never worked on himself, even when he concentrated his hardest to lie to himself). It also took him a long time to realize that what he saw on peoples' foreheads wasn't the absolute truth. It was their version of the truth. For example, when he and Sora were little, Sora always said that Santa existed, and nothing on his forehead said differently, even though Roxas had known whenever his parents talked about Santa that it was a lie.

Due to many instances like these, Roxas hated his ability. Sometimes he felt like he had been depraved of a normal childhood by seeing the truth all the time. The truth hurt, and he didn't think it was worth it to be able to tell what people actually thought of whatever was spewing from their mouths. As they say, ignorance is bliss, and Roxas desperately wanted that.

This skill, it broke Roxas' heart on multiple occasions. He rarely trusted others if at all because it was so easy for him to see through them. It honestly surprised him that other people could be friends when there were lies between them that neither of them knew about. People lied so much that it was ridiculous to him. He also lied, of course, but that made himself feel even worse, because he knew that others would have no way to tell he was lying unless he acted strangely while doing so.

Roxas had never told anyone about his ability because he knew that his ability was his alone. This, he knew, because once he had offered the idea of someone having his ability to do that to Sora. His twin had said that that would be awesome, and then whined about how it wasn't fair that only a superhero could have such gifts. He hadn't told a soul since then. He didn't want anyone to think he was weird or a freak. He didn't want to see how they truly felt about him when he told them. He didn't want to pressure anyone into trying harder to lie to him. No one at all knew about it, and he wanted to keep it that way.

The power to see through others' lies was also confusing. It didn't work on pathological liars because, in their minds, they were telling the truth. It also didn't help that the truths swayed with the person's mood and feelings. For instance, Roxas knew that his father didn't honestly want Sora to drown, well not in the long run. It was a short-term truth applicable to only that moment. Due to these discrepancies, Roxas had named the different truths. He called truths that were only applicable to the moment 'fake truths,' long term truths 'proper truths,' and truths he wasn't sure were long term or short term 'incoherent truths.'

Sora was the only person he knew that hardly ever lied about anything. Even when he knew that he would get in trouble for telling the truth, he still told it. The only things he really lied about were things that were deeply personal for him, which Roxas understood. On many occasions, he considered telling Sora of his ability, but then he always remembered what a blabber-mouth his twin was. If Sora knew that Roxas could always tell what people were actually thinking, he would undoubtedly go around either telling everyone or trying to get Roxas to tell peoples' truths.

Roxas never used the truths for anything, but he knew Sora would ask him to. Roxas never, ever told someone's truth to anyone else. It didn't matter if it would benefit him or Sora or anyone. That was the mindset about truths he would never change. Plus, going about trying to prove what someone thought was difficult. It was also hard to try to use the ability to get answers because people got suspicious of him if he asked too many questions.

Eventually the car ride lulled Roxas to sleep against the window. Riding in cars had always put him to sleep, even though he was now sixteen years old. His family always joked with him about it, often offering to drive Roxas around town if he ever said that he was having trouble sleeping. They frequently cautioned him not to fall asleep at the wheel, which he was actually a little afraid of doing whenever he drove anywhere, no matter how close. In fact, if his desired destination was within biking distance, he would ride his bike instead.

Anyway, three hours later, Cloud awoke Roxas and explained that they had stopped to get gas and also so that they could eat and stretch their legs. Roxas yawned and got out of the car, stretching up into the air as his father began fiddling with the gas pump. They were at a gas station, and there was a Carl's Jr. across the street, which was their target location. Their SUV was already parked outside the gas station's mini-mart, so Roxas and Sora decided that Tifa was probably already at the restaurant.

The entire meal, which was about as good as Roxas had hoped (he hated Carl's Jr.), was fairly silent. There was the exception of when Tifa told Sora to stop texting while they were having a family meal, and Sora just ignored her. Everyone was too exhausted from just sitting there in the same positions for hours to bother with conversation. Plus, Cloud didn't look like he wanted to hear their voices, anyway.

They were back on the road not long after. Sora practically had a temper tantrum over wanting to ride shotgun this time, and Roxas finally gave a sigh and heaved himself into the backseat. The ride once again lulled him to sleep. Before he had dozed off, however, Cloud had told him and Sora that they would arrive in Radient Garden the next time they stopped.

Roxas woke up intermittently throughout the ride, having to keep shifting and readjusting his position. Once, a plant had fallen from its precarious position against the back of the driver's seat and landed on Roxas. To be brief, it wasn't a nice sleep. Finally, though, Sora shook him awake and told him that they were in Radient Garden.

It was somewhere around midnight, but even so, there were many lights on in the city of Radient Garden. The streets were also crawling with people. It wasn't ridiculously packed, but it looked like Destiny Islands did in the daytime at around noon. Roxas began to wonder where they were living as they went down a street that seemed to be exclusively for night clubs. Both he and Sora had kept themselves far away from the house-hunting and buying their parents had done. They hadn't wanted to admit that they were leaving. So, they had no idea where they would be living.

Cloud informed them that they were in downtown Radient Garden and that their house was in a more residential area about ten miles away. Sora pressed his face against the window as he drunk in the sights of their new stomping grounds. Roxas was also somewhat eager to see what this place had in store for them. He didn't like that he had been forced to move, but he was a little excited at the idea of starting from scratch. A clean slate. He couldn't help but smile as he wondered about all the interesting people that could live in such a big city.

In Destiny Islands, it was a fairly small community. Not small enough to where everyone knew each other's names, but small enough that they only needed two schools in total: an elementary/middle school mix and a high school. Here, there were probably multiple school districts within minutes of each other. It was sort of bittersweet, though, because while there would be a lot of new people, there would also be a lot of new people. Roxas had never been a big fan of crowds, and he was terrible at making friends and meeting people.

When the buildings began to space out and the air began to lose its metro vibe, the twins glanced out the windows with a different kind of interest. They would be arriving at their new home soon, and they wanted to try to get to know the way around. It was difficult in the dark, though, and it would definitely look different in the daylight. Still, it was nice to see the area a bit.

They entered a neighborhood labeled 'Tranquil Meadows' on a big stone sign in metal letters. It looked like any normal neighborhood. The houses were all smashed together to squeeze as much space as possible, but Sora verbally expressed that he was happy that they all had at least ten feet vertically of front yard. I didn't know why he wanted a front yard. He never played in our front yard back in Destiny Islands.

Finally, we pulled into the driveway of a small-looking two-story house.

Before Sora could undo his seatbelt, Cloud placed a hand to his chest to stop him. "Boys," he said, glancing from Sora to Roxas, "before we go in, I just want you to know that you'll be sharing a room."

"_What!_" the twins cried in unison.

"Why didn't you tell us that before we came?" Roxas demanded, glaring at his father with a newfound hatred.

Cloud looked away from them, for a moment. His pride was obviously aching. He didn't want to have to tell his sons that they couldn't afford a nice house with a room for the both of them. "Your mother and I were afraid you'd duct tape yourself to your floors," he offered as a joke.

None of them thought it was funny.

"Go on, explore the hovel." Cloud handed Sora the new house key.

Within a heartbeat, Sora and Roxas were out of the car and racing up to the front door. Sora fumbled around with the key so much, that Roxas got irritated with all this anticipation. He grabbed the key away from his twin and managed to unlock the door on the first try.

It was pitch black inside, and they scrambled around to find a light switch. When they finally located one on the wall adjacent from the door, the room was illuminated, revealing that they were in a small walkway that had a coat closet to the right of the front door. The walkway led into a living room. There were stairs in the corner on the left if one kept walking into the living room. To the right, there was a hallway. They followed the hallway first and found a normal-sized kitchen that looked very bare without a dining table. In the hallway that connected the living room and the kitchen was a closet with folded, wooden doors. Behind the doors was a space for a washing machine and dryer. There was also a small bathroom with just a toilet and sink in it next to the "laundry room."

Then they went upstairs. There was a bathroom immediately up the stairs with a bath shower as well as a counter with a sink in it. On the left was another room. They entered and found that it was the master bedroom with its own bathroom and everything. Across the hall to the right of the stairs, they found a regular bedroom. On the same wall was another bedroom.

Roxas and Sora exchanged confused glances. Their father had just told them they would have to share a room. Why would they need to share a room if there were two bedrooms?

"Dad!" Sora called as the two of them raced back down the stairs. They found that their father was already bringing in some of the things from his car and placing them in the kitchen, since that was the only place with a solid surface for now. Tifa was with him, but she was adjusting the clock on the oven and microwave.

"What is it, boys?" Tifa answered for her husband, who was hunched over against the counter with fatigue.

"Why do we have to share a room if there are two bedrooms?" Sora asked desperately. He approached his mother like a dejected child, his shoulders all slumped. His signature, irresistible puppy dog eyes on his face.

Tifa's motherly instincts took over, and she took Sora into his arms. He had always been her favorite, probably because Sora was a total momma's boy. She took his face into her hands and stared into his deep blue eyes. "Oh, my baby boy, I'm sorry, but I'll need that space for a home office. You and Roxas love each other, right? And you both love me, right?"

Sora glanced over at Roxas for a second, but his attention was on his mother. "Well yeah, but…"

"Then you're just going to have to make this sacrifice for the family," Tifa tried to explain in the gentlest way possible.

Truly, it sickened Roxas. She was nowhere near as sweet with anyone or anything else ever. He made gagging noises at the display, earning some chuckles from his father.

"But, Mom! Roxas smells! He smells really, _really_ bad! Have you ever smelled his feet? I'll die within a day!"

"I do not!" Roxas scoffed.

"Roxas, go get the mattresses, sheets, and pillows from the car. Put them in our rooms. We're going to have to wait to get the bed frames and bunk beds for you and Sora," Tifa barked at him even as Sora was still in her grasp.

Roxas rolled his eyes as he did as he was told.

A half an hour later, everyone was in their beds trying to sleep. The problem was that Roxas had always had trouble falling asleep in strange places. Being able to see Sora right next to him in his own mattress made him more comfortable, but not enough to sleep easily. It took much tossing and turning before he finally fell into an uneasy sleep.

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><p><strong>AN:** I really hoped you enjoyed the chapter!

If you did or if you didn't, feel free to leave a review and tell me why. I'm very open to any suggestions, and I appreciate any I receive! I will be updating this story as regularly as I can, so we'll see how that goes.


	2. Moving Sucks When You do it Alone

**A/N: **Chapitre deux! Le deuxième chapitre. Yeah. I updated fairly quickly if I do say so myself =) I hope you enjoy it~!

Kingdom Hearts © Disney and Enix

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><p>The next morning, Roxas awoke with soreness all throughout his body, but mostly in his back and neck. His night of sleep hadn't been very comfortable and he realized he'd been sleeping in an awkward position on top of his arm when he woke up. His nightmares also kept him up. He hardly ever had nightmares. The only time he had them was when he was majorly stressed.<p>

The light filtering in from the window of his and Sora's new room was orangish yellow. It told Roxas that it was early in the morning; probably around 7 or 8AM. Roxas groaned as he saw that not even Sora was up yet. Sora was a total morning person, and he was not. It was a rare occurrence for Roxas to wake up before his twin, who was currently snoring lightly in his bed.

Unfortunately for Roxas, he knew he wouldn't be able to fall back asleep. Still, he tried to fall back asleep for at least a half an hour before giving up. He debated whether or not he should awake Sora, but decided against it.

Roxas heaved himself up off his mattress and stretched out. A particularly loud pop from his back made him feel much, much better. He exited the room and headed downstairs so that he could walk around the neighborhood a bit.

It was a little chilly outside, and it made Roxas shiver. He clutched his arms in an attempt to warm himself up and he wished that he knew where his sweater was. He wasn't about to look for it at this time in the morning.

Briefly, he made a note of their house number and street name so that he would be able to find his way back. He wasn't so sure he'd be able to relocate his house if he went walking all throughout the neighborhood, but he had his phone, and that was enough for him.

The houses in their neighborhood all looked very similarly, he noted. They were probably owned by the same company or person. It wasn't a gated community, more like a collection of homes that were rented out. That being said, it was extremely easy to get lost because the houses were all so similar.

Roxas didn't really care. He just kept trudging along. As he walked, he took out his phone and saw that he had been receiving texts mostly all day yesterday from various friends of Destiny Islands. No feelings of longing or sadness ran through Roxas, and he began to feel a little bad that he didn't miss most of them even though he hadn't wanted to leave. Most of his "friends" had been Sora's friends. They liked Roxas, sure, but he'd seen them wish he was more like his twin multiple times.

He ran into a collection of texts from his own little group, though. They were his real friends; Hayner, Pence, and Olette. They had always honestly liked him for him and he couldn't even begin to count how many good memories he had with them. They were the only people he had ever cared about in all of Destiny Islands.

Hayner was his best friend. He was like the self-proclaimed leader of the group and often got them to pull pranks and do things that more often than not led them to getting in trouble. He was the only person who knew Roxas swung the other way, and Roxas was the only one that knew he swung the other way as well. Pence was the goofy, fun-loving member of their group. He was always making stupid jokes that they couldn't help but laugh at.

Olette was the momma-bear of the group. She always nagged at Hayner for getting them into trouble all the time. Roxas knew that she secretly liked doing all the less than reputable things Hayner got them into. She knew that _someone _had to be the voice of reason, though, so she provided her own. On many occasions, she'd gotten them out of trouble. She had also kept them from doing anything too terrible, which was probably a good thing. They would have burned down several houses (on accident, of course) if she hadn't been there.

Pence had always had a crush on Olette, but Olette had always had a crush on Hayner. Really, it was a confusing love-line thing. It was a line because Hayner didn't have a crush on Pence. Roxas had always tried to turn Olette onto Pence, but there wasn't really much he could do aside from telling her that Hayner wasn't into her. She was definitely a stubborn girl.

Roxas felt himself smiling as he replied to their worried texts, though he doubted any of them were awake. His cell phone had alerted him that it was 7:45AM, and it was a Sunday morning. None of them would be up for at least another hour at the earliest.

After walking around the neighborhood, and even down the streets outside of the neighborhood, Roxas decided to head back home. His parents might've been awake by that time and wondering where he was. If they were really worried, though, they would have texted him by now, so he took his time walking back.

It took Roxas about a half an hour to 45 minutes to locate his house again because he'd taken multiple wrong turns. When he opened the door to the hovel, as his father had called it the previous night, he heard Sora freaking out upstairs. With a sigh, he headed up to their room. When he opened the door, his twin turned to him from ripping apart Roxas' bed.

"Roxy!" Sora cried. He stood up and lunged at his brother, tackling him into the hallway.

Roxas let out a surprised yelp as his twin came down on top of him. "Sora, what are you doing?" he demanded as the brunet began rubbing their cheeks together and tightening his grip on him.

"Oh, Roxas, I woke up and you weren't there and I got so worried! I thought someone had taken you or you were dead somewhere! Oh my _god_! Never do that again, okay? I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you," he began to chant between pecks to Roxas' cheek.

In reply, Roxas grumbled and shoved his brother off of him, and he nearly fell down the stairs that happened to be right there. With a huff, Roxas stood up and brushed himself off before heading back into their room to fix his bed.

Sora whined from the stairs, "Roxy, be nice to me! I was only worried about you!"

"Shut the fuck up out there!" came Cloud's voice from behind his and Tifa's locked door.

"Sorry, daddy!" Sora called back. He joined his brother in their room. "So, Roxy, where did you go?" he asked as he flopped down onto his own bed.

"I just walked around a bit. I woke up pretty early, and I didn't really know what else to do," he replied. He lay down on his side and faced Sora, his head propped up on his elbow. "The area's nice, I guess."

Sora hummed in response. He looked down at the hardwood flooring beneath them and then his eyes traveled back up to meet Roxas'. "Rox, do you think," he paused for a moment, "do you think that I'll be able to make friends? What if the people here don't like me?" His forehead said, '_I'm actually more worried about you._'

Roxas shrugged a bit. "We'll be fine, Sora, it's not like the people here are a completely different species. I guess we'll just have to carve out a new lifestyle for ourselves. Besides, who can resist your cute face?" He grinned.

"Oh, you!" Sora giggled. "Your face is pretty cute too, you know. You'll make friends super easy, I just know it!" '_I'm just trying to convince myself that you'll be okay._'

Roxas looked down at Sora's torso, not wanting to see how pathetic his brother thought he was. They talked for a while longer, discussing what the school could be like. While they had stayed away from the house-hunting process, they had no say in being part of signing up for classes that they would attend at Radiant Garden Union High School. It was only the second week in September, and they were supposed to start school not tomorrow, but the following week so that they could get everything unpacked and settled.

The school year had already started, however. It had started the last week of August, so they had missed a bit. Cloud and Tifa hoped that they would be able to catch up, but Roxas wasn't worried about it and Sora simply didn't care. Roxas had always been academically inclined, much more so than Sora. On the flipside, Sora was much more athletically inclined, and had joined the swim and water polo teams at their old high school. Sora was more worried about being able to join the swim team since it was already so late in the year.

The school had assured him that he would still be able to join if the coach allowed him to. He was supposed to have a tryout tomorrow at 3PM at RGUHS, and he wouldn't stop talking about it. Roxas just listened to him silently, knowing it was futile to try to interrupt him when he went on a tangent.

Eventually, Cloud came into their room at around 10AM and they all went to McDonald's for a quick breakfast. When they got home, the movers were there unloading their truck. A lot of their furniture had to be sold, which the movers had taken care of the previous day. They had significantly less furniture now, but they also had significantly less space, so it seemed to even out.

They all carried box after box into the house, placing them into the rooms they were intended to go. Tifa got out of doing any heavy lifting by saying she would unpack all their kitchen supplies. A little later, Sora got out of doing the manual labor by going to the grocery store with his mother.

Roxas didn't mind helping his father and the movers, though. He was sort of a push over when it came to his family, and they all knew it. So, when Cloud said he had to take a break on their recently unloaded couch, Roxas kept working without protest. He really wanted to focus on his and Sora's room, but he knew he would have to wait until all the boxes were out of the moving truck.

Finally, the last box was removed from the truck, and the movers drove away. Just when Roxas thought he would have a break, his father ended his own break and told Roxas that he had to help him unload their own cars now. Too tired to even roll his eyes, Roxas obeyed. Tifa and Sora eventually came back and set about stocking the kitchen with their newly purchased victuals.

Sometime during the frenzy of unpacking and moving furniture, Roxas must have passed out because when he opened his eyes, he was lying in his bed when he had previously been helping Sora put together their dining table and chairs. His muscles wailed as he stretched and got out of bed to head downstairs.

Upon descending the stairs, he began to smell something delicious, and he briefly wondered what time it was. His mouth was watering by the time he reached the kitchen. His family was all eating at the dining table without him. He grumbled in frustration to himself. He didn't think it was very nice that they would have their first meal in their new home without him, especially after making him do half of the moving alone.

"Rox, your plate's in the oven," Tifa told him from her place at the table.

The table was probably the nicest thing in the room, which was a little sad, but Roxas was sure that once they dug through all the boxes and began filling the home with their furniture, it would be an even blend of attractive and ugly. He fished his plate out of the oven and joined his family.

The meal was nice and it was good to see his family looking happy again after such a stressful time. In such a new area, it was hard to see the flaws and no problems had come up so far, which let everyone feel a great wave of relief wash over them. The planning was much more stressful than the actual action.

That being said, the conversation at the table was light-hearted and enjoyable. Even Cloud had pulled the stick out of his ass to join in on the merriment. He had finally realized that there were a lot more job opportunities in this big city than in their small town in Destiny Islands.

Sora was blabbering away, as always, about his tryout tomorrow, and it made their parents remember about getting them to school. Tifa told Roxas and Sora that they should go to the school together and straighten out their schedules and everything while Sora went to his tryout.

Roxas had been silent all meal, so, in an attempt to get him to talk, they asked him what he thought about going to school here. His response was minimal, and all their foreheads expressed worry over how well he would adjust to this new life. It made him feel a little indignant, but he could understand their worries. He wasn't exactly sociable and he didn't have a friendly aura about him like Sora did.

Honestly, Roxas' plan was just to blend into the background and follow Sora around until something happened. That was what he'd done when they'd first gone to elementary school, and then when they'd moved on to middle school. It worked fairly well for him then, because it led to him meeting Hayner, Pence, and Olette in seventh grade.

After dinner, Cloud and Tifa went to assemble their bed frame, as did Roxas and Sora. However, they were assembling their new bunk beds. It was a little scary because neither of them was very tall, and they weren't sure they'd even assembled the bottom bunk correctly. It was wooden, though, so it wasn't going to stab them if it disassembled. It would just crush them. No big deal.

They finally got it put together before it got _too_ late. Both of them were wiped out by that point, so they decided to turn in. Sora had been ranting about getting the top bunk, and he was even prepared to fight Roxas for it. Roxas, being the pushover he was (and having an exceptionally soft spot for his twin) allowed him to take the top bunk without any fight whatsoever. Personally, he was fine with the bottom bunk. He sort of had a record of rolling out of bed during his sleep. It must be very unpleasant to roll out of bed and fall at least four feet into a hardwood floor.

Maybe it was because they now had other things in their room, but Roxas fell asleep a lot easier. The problem was when he woke up some hours later. He heard a loud crash and Sora screaming simultaneously. He woke with a start, but banged his head on the top bunk, which had fallen down due to their failure to assemble the damn thing correctly. Luckily for Roxas, there was enough space for him to fit between the top bunk stacked on the bottom bunk.

Nevertheless, Roxas started freaking out. Not only was he locked away in darkness, but he couldn't breathe very well and the sounds of Sora freaking out on top of him really disturbed him. Soon Roxas was hyperventilating and trying not to pass out. Normally he wasn't claustrophobic, but this was a special occasion, and he started wailing pathetically.

"Roxas, Sora, are you okay!" Tifa shouted as she burst into the room, Cloud right behind her.

"I killed Roxas!" Sora screeched somewhere above Roxas.

"Roxas, are you alright? Can you hear me?" Cloud's voice asked, muffled by everything on top of him.

Roxas was in no position to respond with words. "Ah…! Uh! Geeeeh!" he very intelligibly cried.

Within seconds, Sora, Cloud, and Tifa lifted the top bunk up, revealing a very flustered Roxas as he flailed around on the mattress like a fish out of water.

Cloud dropped his side of the bunk, making Tifa and Sora carry the extra weight, and went to Roxas immediately. While Sora was Tifa's favorite, Roxas was Cloud's favorite. They looked very much alike and had similar dispositions. Neither of them was very affectionate, but Roxas knew that his father's love for him was very much there.

"Roxas, calm down," Cloud commanded in a voice that lacked its usual gruffness. He grabbed his son's arms and forced him to lock eyes with him.

When Roxas realized he wasn't any longer in the darkness, and his father's blue eyes were on his, he finally calmed down and realized that he was alive and well. He put a hand to his chest and grasped his shirt as his breathing gradually slowed. "I think… I'm okay," he said between pants. "Sorry to wake you guys up," he mumbled, averting his gaze from his father.

A large hand was on Roxas' head, fingers running through his blond spikes comfortingly. He looked up at his father, surprised. '_I don't know what I would do if I lost you._'

After that climactic event, they decided to leave the bunks separated until the next day so that everyone could go back to sleep.

The next morning, the family was bustling about fixing up their individual rooms first. They all pitched in to fix the bunk bed and set it up properly. As it turned out, they had been drilling the screws in all the wrong places, barely anchoring the thing together. Now it was so solid that if someone knocked it down, both bunks would remain attached even after it hit the floor.

As the time to head over to the school approached, Sora began panicking, trying desperately to locate his swimming gear from Destiny Islands High School. Finally, he and Roxas found the box it was in and Sora packed it all into a shoe bag that was DIHS school colors.

Sora drove them to the school, and Roxas' first impression was that it was fucking huge. Two of DIHS could easily fit inside of it. If the main office hadn't been directly in the front of the school, they never would've found it. The school colors were purple and white and the mascot was the Rangers. The Radient Garden Rangers. Sora started gushing about how he wanted to be a Ranger so badly now.

The school day hadn't ended yet when they pulled up, and there weren't many people around, save for a student here or there. Roxas was a bit glad for that because then he didn't have to deal with anyone yet.

They finally found a parking space in what looked to be the student parking area (almost all of the vehicles looked old and very used). Sadly, it was quite a walk to the school's main office. They eventually got there, though, and found that the office was buzzing with people, both faculty and students.

"Excuse me?" Sora called to one of the administrators.

Roxas thought it was peculiar that they were all women, but he wouldn't say anything about it.

"Yes, boys, how can I help you?" asked the woman, who had long blond hair and hazel eyes. She seemed nice enough, and was probably in her mid forties.

"We're going to be new students coming in next week and we just wanted to make sure our schedules were all figured out. We also need student IDs," Sora explained the situation in further detail than that, but Roxas was too busy looking around the office to listen.

RGUHS was a very nice place. Every piece of furniture in the office looked to be carefully selected. Roxas couldn't help but think that the school district must be rich if they could afford such luxury. It made him the least bit excited to attend school here because it meant that their academics were probably well-funded and well-supplied. He liked the idea of using computers that were actually made within the decade.

When Roxas shifted his attention back to the matter at hand, he realized that Sora was now completely chumming it up with the administrator. He had on his most charming smile and he constantly made the woman laugh. If Roxas hadn't known better, he would think that his twin was flirting with her. Sora treated everyone that way, though, without even realizing it or meaning to. He broke many hearts because of it, and it always made him feel bad. He didn't like to think that he led people on, it was just how he acted.

"Well, alright, boys," she paused a moment as she wrote something down on a slip of paper and handed it to Sora, "this is the tech room number. Go there and tell them you need pictures taken for your IDs. I'm sure Mr. Valdez will be happy to assist you. I'll see you around, Mr. Strife!"

Sora called a friendly goodbye, and Roxas didn't even wave to her. She was talking to Sora, anyway. As they tried to locate the tech room, they realized that they had no idea where they were going, but they had to get there quickly so that Sora could make it to tryouts. They asked around and eventually found where they were supposed to be.

The pictures were pretty much the same as any other pictures, only instead of a green screen behind them there was a giant sheet of green construction paper. The interesting part, though (to Roxas), was how up to date all the computers and cameras there were. They were fairly new and very nice for a school to have. If only this was the kind of school that gave out laptops for the year…

There were five minutes to 3, and Sora had to race around to find the gym if he wanted to be there on time. Roxas decided he would much rather head back to the car and relax, which he did, leaving Sora to his fate. He didn't really like watching his brother swim anyway. He went to the tournaments to support his twin, but he failed to see the importance of watching him when he was simply practicing.

When Roxas got back to the car, he busied himself with texting Hayner, who seemed to be constantly texting him. He was the only one of the three who would text during class, and Roxas was glad for it because he wouldn't have anyone else aside from his family to talk to for the next week. He _could_ meet his neighbors, he supposed, but then he realized that he didn't want to.

About two hours later, Sora finally returned, his hair still dripping, which was weird because his swim cap usually kept his hair fairly dry. He had on his change of clothes, and his bag was also dripping, probably because of his Speedo and cap.

Roxas watched his twin as he got into the driver's seat and threw his bag in the backseat. "Roxas, their pool is effing _huge_! You know, Destiny Islands High didn't even _have_ a pool and here we are at Radiant Garden Union High School and they have an _Olympic-sized pool_! And it's _indoors_! It's freaking _boss_!" Sora gushed. He hated cussing, hence the use of words such as 'effing' and 'freaking.'

The entire ride home, Sora could not stop babbling about how amazing the pool was. Roxas had started spacing out. How rich was the school? To have an Olympic-sized pool indoors was pretty ritzy. He wondered if the school really was a public school. He decided that later on, he would have to look into the school's funds. It could be that they did really well on tests, so they earned the money that way. Or they could have some sort of benefactor. Or maybe there were rich students whose parents donated buckets of money to the school.

When they got home, it was around 7:30 and they found Cloud and Tifa in a very suggestive position on the couch. They simply ignored their parents and went straight up to their room, faces red the whole way there.

They set about cleaning their room up and unpacking their boxes of clothes and posters and such until they were called down for dinner. When they unpacked the first of the wall decorations they decided that they would split up the wall space between the two of them. Sora got from the middle of their dresser to the corner and then the entire side wall with the window and Roxas got the other side. The wall with their beds against it would be neutral grounds for things they both liked.

Finding the space for clothes was also difficult, especially because neither of them could reach high enough to use the shelf that was above the clothing rack in the closet. They had two dressers, and they decided the larger of the two would go to Sora while Roxas would invade the smaller dresser and the closet. It seemed to be okay for now, and Roxas' pushover-y nature certainly made the process run very smoothly.

When they were finally called down for dinner, Tifa asked Sora about how tryouts went and if he and Roxas liked the school. Of course, Sora was the one to answer her first. He explained about how wonderful the school's pool was and talked about it for at least ten minutes before Cloud stopped him and asked if he'd actually made the swim team.

"Of course I made the swim team! I got to meet them all, too, and they were all really, really nice! The coach liked me and he said I was a good swimmer and asked where I moved from and then he said I must be so good at swimming from the ocean and all, and I totally agree with him! He said that I could join the team, but I have to go to practices everyday now from 2 to 4. They had a late practice today, though, because of an assembly or something," Sora said with his mouth full.

"Are there any cute swimmers that you met?" Tifa asked with rapt interest. She often liked to ask Sora about girls and tease him about not having a girlfriend yet. Too bad for her he probably never would have one.

"Mhmm," Sora hummed in reply. '_There was this really, __**really**__ hot guy named Riku…_'

That caught Roxas' attention, and he decided to tease his twin. "Sounds like you already have your eye on someone, please share with us, brother," he spoke up with a grin on his face. Knowing Sora, he wouldn't have even noticed the girls enough to describe them.

That definitely threw him for a loop. "Oh, um," he paused for a few long seconds. "I don't really want to talk about it," he mumbled, glancing down at his plate. "Oh! But there was this jerk there! Oh my gosh, he was horrible! You guys may not know this about me, but I pretty much like everyone I meet (everyone rolled their eyes at this) and even when they're not nice to me, I still like them a lot. But this guy! I pretty much hate him! _Hate!_" he hissed.

"Oh yeah?" Cloud asked.

"Yeah! His hair was red, _bright_ red. Not like orange, _red!_ Anyway, he was there because his friend, who is actually very pleasant, is on the team. He was really, really rude and he pushed me into the pool when I wasn't looking and he took my Speedo after practice was done and hid it! Oh, but before that he kept insulting me and calling me short and stupid and he said I was too little to be there. And he said that he was a vampire and he started touching me and he licked my neck! I couldn't _believe_ that guy! I decided I hate him!"

Roxas couldn't help but laugh. The guy sounded pretty harmless. They were just like middle school pranks. Everyone else at the table seemed to think the same thing. Cloud's forehead even said, '_How did Sora become such a wimp?_' It was in good humor, though, Roxas could tell by the smirk on his father's face.

"Well, you better stay away from him, then, Sora. He might suck your blood!" Tifa chuckled. She also had a grin on her face. Everyone knew that Sora tended to over-exaggerate.

'_I really do hate that guy,_' Sora's forehead read. "You better stay away from him, too, okay, Roxy? I don't want you to associate with those kinds of people!"

Roxas just cracked a grin and nodded.

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><p><strong>AN: **J'espère que vous avez aimé ce chapitre~ ! And if you're wondering, no, I don't use Google translate or anything to find the French. I speak it =) (I know enough of it, anyway). I was actually thinking of maybe adding French to the dialogue a bit, especially when it comes to Axel and Roxas. Any thoughts on it?

First mention of Axel =D The real question is: is he _really_ a jerk or is Sora over-exaggerating? Will Roxas and Axel hit it off once they meet or will Roxas' protectiveness over his brother get in the way? Will Cloud ever get a job? The world may never know. But you probably will eventually as I continue to update.

Leave a review telling me if you loved it or if you hated it and why~! Au revoir~!


	3. Did You Know Angels go to School?

**A/N: **Oh, hey, here we are again. This is just getting a little awkward… I mean, I'm always here when you're here, and we should just stop meeting like this. Call me and we can just go for coffee or something. That way these things wouldn't be so weird.

Please excuse the above one-sided conversation. Too much PhillyD. If you know who that man is, then you are a cool person.

You are also a cool person if you reviewed the previous chapters and I thank you muchly.

ANYWAY, please enjoy this chapter and if you don't, I'm sorry to have failed you.

Kingdom Hearts © Disney and Enix

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><p>The remainder of the week was filled with boxes and unpacking and moving and placing. By the end of the week, their house was filled with their furniture and pictures. There were still boxes that were pushed into corners of rooms, and they were just things no one felt like fiddling with. During the middle of the week, the trash and recycling pickup had taken half their boxes, which was nice because they tended to clutter the place up. That being said, they still had a pile of flattened, unfolded boxes in their almost nonexistent backyard. It was probably 15 feet by 10 feet and covered with grass. It was sort of like a patio that the owners of the lot never cemented over.<p>

Sora and Roxas took pride in the fact that they'd gotten rid of the boxes from their rooms, and had found most of their things. So far, the only issue was that Sora would rather throw his dirty clothes on the floor than in the laundry basket that was right next to their bunk bed. It made Roxas angry because Tifa would always blame him for their messy room. She didn't like to think that her favorite son was actually the little tornado he most definitely was.

Cloud couldn't care less about the condition of their room. He was actually very busy looking for job opportunities. The two of them were constantly locked inside Tifa's home office. They had two computers in there, one for Tifa specifically and the other for the whole family. Lately, though, Cloud had been hogging it in his mad search for employment. He seemed to be doing well with it, too. He had a few job interviews to go to within the next week.

As they settled in more, Tifa was around less. She had to get to work at her new job, which it appeared that she enjoyed. Roxas knew that she worked in some sort of company, but he wasn't sure what she did exactly. Sora said she was part of the marketing department at the company, but neither of them knew what the company was selling.

This shift was more towards the norm they had reached back in Destiny Islands, except it drove Roxas and Sora to spend more time together than ever. Normally, Roxas would be out with his friends and Sora with his. Here, they were a little too new for that. Sora was still going to practice everyday just like his coach told him, and he was already friends with the swim team, but they had yet to invite him anywhere. As for Roxas, he didn't know anyone here at all that wasn't family.

Today was Sunday, though, and tomorrow would be their first day attending RGUHS as new students. Roxas was anxious, both nervous and excited. He was eager to get back to his studies, but he was a little fearful of being alone with only his brother to save him. It wasn't like he could be with him all the time, though. Their schedules were completely different, so the only time he could rely on his twin was at lunch and maybe during the break between second and third period.

It had been fine for Roxas to follow around Sora in elementary school and middle school because he felt no shame for relying on his twin like that. Now, though, he knew he would feel embarrassed and sheepish following the brunet around like a duckling. He would be that weird kid that never spoke, and he hated the idea of it.

Sora could see that his brother was sweating the situation, though, so he decided to help him out and give him some pointers on interacting with people. Roxas was a little offended, but he knew his brother meant well, so he listened to the advice Sora gave him. Basically, Sora told him he just had to act confident and he wouldn't be labeled as weird. He told Roxas to sit up straight and keep his shoulders back and his hands wherever was most comfortable. The brunet also told him to make sure to look people in the eyes when he spoke and to speak confidently.

Roxas hoped that he could put those practices into action the following day at school. He had already told Sora of his plan, and he was fine with it. Actually, Sora had been excited and said that he would introduce him to the swim team. '_And Riku, especially,_' his forehead had said.

All week, Sora had been secretly obsessing over this 'Riku' person, so Roxas was eager to see just who this guy was. According to Sora's brain, he was Sora's personal Adonis and had the smile of an angel. Whenever Tifa asked about girls, all Sora would think about was Riku. He had decided to start describing Riku when his mother asked him about the girl he liked. Apparently, he had silver hair and was tall with lean muscles.

After dinner, Sora and Roxas were getting together their school supplies eagerly. Sora wasn't really excited for school itself, but he was excited to make new friends and hang out with the swim team. Roxas was excited to use all his new school supplies because they were all shiny, clean, and new. There was just something so invigorating to him about blank notebooks and unused mechanical pencils. Like it was the beginning of an era or some shit like that.

The issue of how they would get to school arose, since their family only had two vehicles and both Tifa and Cloud had to use them tomorrow. Sora and Roxas said they would skateboard to school, but their parents were a little hesitant to let them. They couldn't exactly do anything about it, though, because the twins had to get to school somehow.

Preparations for the following day were complete, and Sora laughed at Roxas for already having his clothes for the next day laid out on top of his dresser. The blond simply huffed in annoyance at his twin and pointed out that he didn't want to go rifling through his drawers for a matching outfit and be late their first day. Sleeping that night was difficult for the both of them, and they ended up talking silently half the night. They were too excited to sleep. When morning came, instead of being tired, both of them hopped out of bed even before their alarm went off.

The two of them set about readying for the day, and Roxas was finished first due to his organization the previous night. Sora was complaining about how it was unfair as he raced to down his cereal when Roxas had gotten to have nicely-cooked toast and a glass of milk. Roxas just laughed at his brother as they left home on their skateboards. Sora led the way since he had been to the school everyday last week.

As they got closer to the school, Roxas grew more anxious because the number of teenagers rapidly increased. He looked around at everyone with a certain interest, drinking in the sights of the RGUHS student body. Every face seemed to sort of blend in, though, and he was just overwhelmed with the amount of people.

They went to the front office first to get their schedules and IDs. To Roxas' surprise, the administrator behind the counter said that a couple of students would be giving each of them a tour. Sora asked why they needed separate tour guides, and the administrator gladly explained that it would take a while and she had chosen students that would be in their second period classes. They were told to simply sit down until their guides arrived.

Roxas' little helper arrived first. She was a petite, pale girl with light blonde hair and light blue eyes. She strangely resembled an angel, especially with the white shirt and ruffle skirt she was wearing. Her demeanor was somewhat mousy and shy, but the smile on her face was kind and she was very pretty.

"Hello, you must be the new student. My name is Naminé, it's very nice to meet you," she said in a downy voice. Her hand gracefully raised and extended toward Roxas.

"I'm Roxas, it's nice to meet you, too," Roxas mumbled back, looking down at his feet. He looked over at his brother after he'd heard him coughing rather loudly.

When Sora saw that Roxas was looking at him, he failed miserably at mouthing something to him. Luckily for Roxas, his forehead said what he wanted to. '_Remember the things I told you!_'

Roxas sighed and rolled his eyes as he began following Naminé out of the office. He wondered briefly how long the excursion would take because the school was _huge_. At first, Roxas and Naminé were silent, aside from the angelic girl telling him where they were.

"So, Roxas, where are you from?" she asked after a while.

Roxas stood up straighter and left his thoughts behind him as he spoke. "Destiny Islands," he replied.

Naminé's eyes lit up and she smiled this sweet little smile. "Oh, my, I hear that it's positively gorgeous there! I've always wanted to go there and just sketch everything I see. Did you live on the main island?" she wondered curiously.

"Nah, the mainland is really trashy. I lived on one of the smaller islands. They're a lot prettier and the people are nicer. You like to sketch?" he asked. Sora had told him when people started conversations with him to use any little information that they gave away. It made it a lot easier to get to know people. Of course, Roxas had already known that, but it did help to have him reinforce it.

A light blush fell over Naminé's pretty little face and she chuckled. "Yeah, I love to draw, paint, anything artsy on paper or canvas, I like to do." She lightly touched her hand to Roxas' arm for a moment.

Roxas didn't know if it was possible, but it seemed like she was flirting with him. When he looked away from the school's buildings and at Naminé, her forehead said, '_Oh, he's so cute!_' Honestly, he felt a little bad that he wouldn't ever like her. She was so adorable and nice. If Roxas was straight, she would probably be the perfect girl for him.

"What about scrapbooking?" he wondered, assuming she probably hadn't done that before.

"Oh, well, I guess I don't do _that_," she gave a nervous chuckle.

"Looks like you lied to me, then," Roxas grinned at her.

Laughter gently poured out of the small girl, and Roxas joined her. He didn't know what it was about her, but it made him feel like he'd known Naminé for a very long time. They felt like old friends.

The rest of the guide was filled with chatter and laughter, and it was very pleasant. They were very much alike and Roxas felt that he'd made his first friend, which was strange because it was still his first day. He silently thanked the office administrator for picking Naminé to give him the tour of the school.

The school was simply amazing. Its facilities were new, pristine, and up to date. The science labs were well equipped with some fairly expensive tools and microscopes. The library was well-stocked with a variety of literature with everything from reference books to mangas to audio books. Everything was very nice, and it led Roxas to ask Naminé where they got all the money to buy these things.

The blonde girl just shrugged. "There's a lot of reasons. Mostly, it's because some students' families are very rich and influential, so of course they want their children to get the best education possible," she explained.

"Why do so many rich families choose to send their children here?" Roxas wondered.

"Well, the school has very good test scores and high rates of college-bound seniors. Much higher than the other schools in the area, anyway."

The administrator had been right to assign the students to help Roxas and Sora around the school because the bell signaling that first period was over rang out and the hallway was swarming with kids. Naminé gladly led Roxas to their second period class, showing him the quickest way to get there. She was still flirting with him, and Roxas really wished she would stop. He didn't want to have a broken heart on his conscious the first day of school.

The class he and Naminé ended up sharing was chemistry. He couldn't help but think it was ironic because they did share chemistry with each other, it just wasn't romantic chemistry. As far as friends went, they had the best chemistry possible.

When class, which had been relatively uneventful, ended Naminé suggested they walk through the halls together, but Roxas declined, saying he had to go meet Sora at their shared locker. He didn't feel as guilty turning her down as he would have been, mainly because it was the truth.

Sora was fiddling with the things in their locker when Roxas arrived. They had been told that this was the only available locker because an entire wall of lockers was being renovated due to its poor condition, so they decided to share a locker for now. It was a tight squeeze, though, with both of their textbooks. It wasn't like they could leave a set at home because they're textbooks were all different because Roxas was taking advanced classes and Sora was taking regular, and some below-average, classes.

"Roxas!" Sora greeted with a smile when he saw his twin approaching. "How was your little tour with that cute blonde girl?" he wondered eagerly. "It totally looked like she was into you, even though I only saw you guys a little bit!"

Roxas gently pushed Sora away from the locker so that he could get at the textbooks he would need for his next two classes before lunch. "Well, I think she likes me," he mumbled, not really wanting Sora to hear him. Sora would go crazy.

"Oh my _god_! Roxas, you're such a little Casanova! It's the first day and you already have a girl drooling all over you! Jeez, you work fast, you know. I totally didn't expect this!" Sora gushed without stop. "Dude, you should ask her out!"

'_I wish I wasn't gay. Then it wouldn't be so hard. Roxas has it easy._'

Roxas flinched at his brother's thoughts as he closed their locker door. It was then that he decided that if Sora confessed to him that he was gay, Roxas would do the same. It bothered him that even Sora had to put on a fake smile every once in a while. It really didn't suit his twin.

Deciding to get his brother's thoughts away from a bad place, Roxas said, "So aren't you going to introduce me to your swim friends? What about that guy you mentioned? Riku?" Sora had never mentioned Riku's name to him, but it wasn't like his twin would ever remember that. Plus, Roxas was an exceptional actor, probably due to his ability.

"Oh yeah!" Sora chirped, then he grabbed Roxas by the arm and began racing off in a different direction, dragging the blond along with him. "Remember all the things I told you, okay? These are my friends, so they can't think my brother is a total weirdo. Then I'd be weird by association!"

Roxas rolled his eyes.

They finally happened upon a very large, open area that Naminé had said that a lot of people ate lunch in. It wasn't the cafeteria, but it was a place to sit and chill during lunch. Sora walked right over to a group of people sitting at a bench and against a wall. There were about eight or nine of them, and Riku was very easy to pick out, being the only one there with silver hair. He was sitting at the bench facing the twins.

"Hey, guys!" Sora greeted them happily.

"Hey Sora!" Everyone returned. "Who's the cutie?" one of the girls asked with a giggle.

"This is my brother, Roxas. We're twins, but he doesn't swim," the brunet explained cheerfully.

"Hello, everyone, it's nice to meet you," Roxas said, trying as hard as he could to sound confident of himself. He tried to follow Sora's advice, but he couldn't help but fidget. This was so outside of his comfort zone.

Most of the group didn't seem to care, but Riku and this redheaded girl seemed very interested in Roxas.

'_Cute like his brother,_' Riku's forehead said.

'_I wonder if he's single_,' the redhead's forehead said. Would every girl have an unexplainable interest in Roxas? He certainly hoped not.

"Roxas, this is Riku, and that's Kairi, and I guess the rest of them don't really matter because I don't really know them that well, either," Sora explained.

"You know, Sora, if you don't lock Roxas away, he'll be snatched up by some girl in an instant!" Kairi said in a teasing voice. Then to Roxas, she said, "I'm sure you get a lot of attention from the female population."

"No way, Roxas is a total geek! He can barely speak English when he talks to more than three strangers at a time," Sora said with a laugh, sitting down between Riku and Kairi. He grabbed Roxas by the arm and pulled him between him and Kairi.

"You know, Sora, I don't always talk to people, but when I do, I prefer English," Roxas mumbled, making a joke off of those ridiculous, yet funny, Dos Equis beer commercials.

Of course, Sora started cracking up and then, because Sora has contagious laughter, everyone started cracking up. It almost made Roxas feel funny, only, it didn't. Instead, it was just another reminder of how much of a social butterfly his dear darling twin was and how much of a downer he was.

Kairi had initiated a conversation with Roxas, and he gladly replied, but he was more interested in watching Sora and Riku interact. He wanted to check out this 'Riku' so he could see if the silverette deserved his stamp of approval, but also so that he could see if he was even gay in the first place.

Roxas tried to hide the lack of attention he was paying Kairi, but she eventually stopped trying to have a conversation with him and started listening in on Sora and Riku as well. At least her forehead didn't say anything negative about Roxas. Instead though, it expressed a desire to be sitting in Riku's position, and he realized that Kairi was crushing on his brother. Sora's forehead expressed the desire to be touching Riku's mouth with his, and Riku's expressed the desire to punch some guy across the room.

Really, it was quite strange. Luckily, the bell rang not a moment too soon, and Roxas sped off to his next class.

Roxas kept to himself mostly the entire day. He'd already had enough socializing with new people to last him a whole month. By fifth period, Roxas began thinking that he'd had a fairly good first day at his new learning center. Of course, because it was Roxas, the universe had other plans for him.

After sixth period, Roxas headed over to his locker to exchange books and everything. Sora wouldn't be done with practice for another hour or so, which meant it was a good time for Roxas to do his homework, since he didn't want to leave school without his brother. So he set to work in the school's library. It was mostly silent there, which made for a good studying environment. Well, that is until _they_ showed up.

Three people, two boys and one girl, boisterously (well, the two boys were loud, anyway) entered the library and decided to take the table right behind Roxas. There was a tall blond boy wearing a beanie and a long coat and an even taller boy with brown hair and visible muscles. They began to shoot paper footballs and throw paper planes at Roxas, driving him to pack up his things and leave the library.

Unfortunately for Roxas, the three students followed him close behind, chuckling to themselves. His heart rate began to increase as he realized they didn't have any intention of letting him get away. He had no idea why they would choose him as a target, but right now he was more focused on trying to find his way somewhere that they wouldn't follow. He checked his phone for the time to see when Sora's practice would be over and found that his twin should be finished in around ten minutes.

A plan formulated in Roxas' mind, and he decided that he just had to make sure he kept moving where there were a lot of people. It was just until Sora was finished, then he could leave with his twin and it would all be fine and dandy. No one would ever hurt Sora, after all. He was just too charming.

Sadly, Roxas' inexperience with the school and its layout posed a problem for him. Especially when he happened to enter an empty hallway. He knew he was in trouble there with no one else around, so he went into one of the classrooms, hoping that the teacher would be there and he could just lie low until his three stalkers were gone. As fate would have it, the classroom was completely empty. His heart beat loudly in his ears as he heard the three people enter the room.

Roxas turned to face his pursuers and found that the blond kid, probably the leader, was right there. He let out a gasp and shrank back away from him.

"It looks like you chose the perfect classroom for this, lamer," the blond boy sneered.

Roxas continued to back away nervously. "Um, I don't know who you are, but if it's money you want I don't have any right now…" he said, his voice shaking.

"The name's Seifer, newbie. That's Rai and that's Fuu." He beckoned crudely to the boy and girl respectively. "And I don't want your money."

"Yeah, Seifer doesn't take money, ya know! He just wants to make you squeal, ya know!" the boy, Rai, exclaimed.

"Payback," said Fuu.

Roxas gave a nervous laugh. "Oh, then I'm terribly sorry for anything I did to upset you. I'll just get out of your hair, if that's okay, ha… ha." He turned and made to bolt for the door, but a strong hand grabbed him by his messenger bag and yanked him back.

"Nice try, lamer, but no, it's not okay." A wicked grin spread on his face. "Why don't we just head outside for some fresh air and talk this through? I would hate to get your blood all over this pristine classroom."

Roxas tried to scream, but Seifer had his mouth over his hand the entire way outside. He had Roxas in a headlock, so it wasn't as if he could really do much at the risk of breaking his neck.

Getting some fresh air and talking their problems through involved Rai holding Roxas up by his arms and Seifer dealing body shots as well as face shots. Fuu joined in when Seifer let her, but Roxas could tell she wanted to destroy him all by herself. Roxas had gotten free once, but then Rai and Seifer tackled him and Fuu grabbed him by the hair so that she could rub his face into the dirt and grass.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, the three bullies left him there bleeding and disfigured on the floor. Roxas laid there for around ten minutes before he was able to get his wits about him and collect his things. They had broken his skateboard in half, so he had to walk (well, limp) home. It was already sunset, and Roxas had trouble locating his neighborhood in the rapidly darkening light.

Roxas wondered where Sora had gone and why his twin would have left without him. He checked his phone, but found no texts from his brother or his family at all. Sadness overwhelmed him as he trudged back to the shitty little hovel he was now forced to call home. He didn't like thinking that his family was better off without him, but he couldn't help it in his current condition. It was already 6:45 for crying out loud! You'd think they would've texted him if they cared at all.

When he finally found his home, his nose had stopped bleeding, but there was definitely dried blood on his face and clothes. He felt like shit, and there was no way in hell he didn't look like it.

With a heavy heart, Roxas entered his house. The smell of food mingled with the smell of blood that emanated from him, and his mouth instantly began to water. He was absolutely _starving_, especially after his little ordeal. Roxas had intended on going to wash up first before even attempting to face his family like this, but Sora just had to ruin it.

"Roxy!" the brunet called from the kitchen. Footsteps made their way over to the living room.

Roxas tried to hobble over to the stairs before his brother could get to him, but he barely even entered the living room before his brother had seen him.

Sora stopped dead in his tracks as he looked over his twin. "Roxas… What happened?" Hysteria was alive and kicking in his voice.

Roxas chuckled as he struggled not to make eye contact with Sora. "It's nothing, Sora, don't worry about it," he assured him. On the inside, he was crying and screaming at Sora, asking him why he left him all alone at school with those three monsters. Of course, Roxas would never say that to anyone. He was in pain, sure, but he didn't want his brother to feel guilty about it.

"This is not _nothing_, Roxas," Sora said in a very low voice. He was very serious. Deadly serious. The brunet grabbed Roxas by the arm and dragged him into the kitchen where their parents were still enjoying their meal. "Mom, Dad," he called, not quite knowing what to say to them.

The two looked over at Roxas and Sora, and their faces paled considerably.

Roxas pulled himself out of his brother's grasp. "I told you it's nothing!" he tried to leave the room quickly, but Sora held him back. "So I got beat up, so what? It doesn't matter, it's nothing, I'm okay. It was just a little friendly welcome to the school. This is _nothing_." Really, Roxas was trying to convince himself more than his family.

"Come here, Roxas," Cloud commanded him in a deathly voice.

Roxas was terrified when he limped slowly over to his father. When he reached him, strong hands began to straighten him up and fix his clothes and hair. Cloud's eyes were all over his visible injuries, checking them out.

"Who did this to you? We have to report this to the school!" Tifa exclaimed.

"No one! It was nothing! I don't even remember their faces. I can't really even see since my face is so swollen, so I don't know what they looked like."

This went on for a while longer until Cloud and Tifa finally dropped who had done this. Roxas didn't want to be a tattle-tale and then get beaten up again. It was better to just move on from the situation. He felt so much better after a long, hot bath. His face certainly was marked up, as well as his body, but he was more concerned about what skin would be most visible.

Sora informed Roxas that he'd only left without his brother because he thought that he was with Naminé. Then he promised he'd never do that again unless Roxas told him it was okay to leave without him.

Roxas was glad that his twin had realized his mistake and assured him that he would correct it. They talked a lot more after that. Well, Sora did. He talked all about his friends and about Riku and swim. Even when they were laying in their beds waiting to fall asleep, Sora never shut up. Quite frankly, Roxas really liked it. He could always count on Sora to distract him from himself. Falling asleep to Sora's voice was his favorite lullaby. It meant that everything was normal and that everything was okay just the way it was.

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><p><strong>AN: **So there you have it! There will be Axel in the next chapter, probably. Most likely. Maybe. Now I'm not so sure. The point is, SOON. There will be Axel SOON. Just be a little bit patient, sheesh, they're not just gonna meet randomly in the bathroom and fuck, _gosh_! Roxy isn't that kind of girl!

Also, I apologize for the Roxas-bashing in the end there. And Seifer didn't just randomly beat him up, he has _some_ class. Don't let his belly shirts fool you. The reason Roxas got beat up will be revealed soon, because Seifer did have a reason, albeit it's not a very good one. I think it's a cute reason, but meh.

I hope you enjoyed the chapter and I'll be back with another one… real soon. (Mark Crilley ref LOL)

If you liked it or not, please review! I luff teh reviews coz they are like the gateway that connects us all. They are like the door. This world has been connected.


	4. First Impressions Fun

**A/N: **Hello, peoples! This chapter took a little longer than the previous ones and it is also a little shorter, but I think it's still good. Things will start picking up from this point, I believe.

Thanks to all reviewers, I love you all greatly! Kisses~

Anyhoo, please enjoy this chapter~!

Kingdom Hearts © Disney and Enix

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><p>The next morning, Sora helped Roxas to steal their mother's makeup in order to cover up the bruises and black eye on Roxas' face. He wore a hoodie to cover his bruised arms. He looked fairly normal when all the makeup was in place (good thing he and Tifa had the same skin tone), but there was nothing that could be done to hide the swelling. It wasn't like he could just walk around with an icepack on his face. The swelling wasn't <em>too<em> bad, luckily. It looked a little peculiar, but no one had seen Roxas long enough to notice the difference.

Roxas was eager to see Naminé just because she was a friendly face. The thought of talking to her made Roxas' morning that much better. He decided that he didn't care if she had a crush on him or not. She was a lone, safe boat in a sea of unfamiliarity and unkindness.

Unfortunately, when second period came around, Naminé kept avoiding Roxas. He had no idea what the sudden change in her demeanor was about, and her forehead didn't reveal anything about it, which was a bit strange, because he was almost certain that she was purposely avoiding him. Finally, with ten minutes until the bell rang, Roxas asked her what was up.

Naminé slowly looked around for a moment, as if searching for someone. Then she turned back to him and wrote something down in his notebook. She quickly turned away from him after that and continued to avoid him for the rest of the period.

Curiously, Roxas peered down at what she had written in his notebook. In thin, curly penmanship was a series of ten digits with the words 'My Number' written above it. Roxas quickly fiddled to get his phone out of his pocket and added Naminé's number into his contacts. It appeared to Roxas that she wasn't avoiding him because she wanted to. It almost looked like she was being forced to, but he didn't know why or by who.

After second period ended and Roxas was stuck sitting with Sora and his friends, he decided to send Naminé a simple text saying hello and saying that it was him. He listened to Kairi, Riku, Sora, and some other people at the table talk as he waited for a reply from the blonde girl. Their conversation was boring, and Roxas didn't have the slightest urge to join in. He spent most of that time staring at Riku and judging him. The silverette didn't seem to notice at all.

A vibrating in his hands brought Roxas back to his phone. He quickly opened the new message from Naminé.

'Hey, Roxas, i didnt mean to avoid you or anything, but i sort of have to. My brother saw us yesterday, hes really protective of me when it comes to boys. Its better that we dont talk too much right away. Sorry.'

Roxas typed out a reply asking who her brother was, forming the idea that it was probably Seifer. It would make more sense as to why the blond boy had beaten him senseless. They also sort of looked alike if he thought about it. Naminé's response confirmed his suspicions.

He decided not to tell her that Seifer had already gotten to him. It wouldn't have surprised Roxas if she already knew about it.

The rest of the school day was as uneventful as the first. This time, though, Roxas headed home as soon as school got out. He didn't want to chance another run-in with Seifer. He texted Sora telling him that he was going straight home, so hopefully his twin would check his phone before freaking out because Roxas wasn't there.

As Roxas walked home, he noticed others walking in his direction. It shouldn't have surprised him that other students lived near him, but it did for some reason. The crowd had thinned out considerably by the time he made it to his neighborhood, but a few other people entered the neighborhood as well.

When he got to the front door of the hovel, Roxas tried opening the door and found that it was locked. His parents weren't home yet. He checked his pockets and his bag thoroughly only to find that he didn't have a spare key. Sora had it and wouldn't be home for at least another hour, unless he got a ride home, which was unlikely.

"_FUCK!_" Roxas shouted out of frustration, kicking the front door as hard as he could, only to regret it seconds later as pain overwhelmed him. "Dammit!" he whined pathetically as he hopped around one leg in order to take the strain off of his pained limb.

"Hey, you," a voice called to Roxas.

Roxas slowly lowered his leg and looked to his right only to find that there was a blue-haired emo-looking kid standing at his own front door. Instantly, Roxas' face flushed red, and he was very embarrassed of his actions moments earlier.

"Um, yeah?" Roxas replied.

"You just moved into town, yes?" the boy asked, tilting his head to the side, causing the mass of bangs covering his right eye to fall inwards more. Roxas couldn't help but think that this blue-haired boy was very cute.

"Yeah, we moved in last week," the blond answered.

"Did you get locked out?"

"Looks like it. No one's home, either, so I'm kinda stuck for now."

The boy stepped down from his doorstep and crossed over a strip of grass. He hopped up onto Roxas' doorstep. "My name is Zexion, and it appears that you are my new neighbor. I think we have one or two classes together because you look fairly familiar." Zexion flashed him a small, friendly smile.

Roxas returned Zexion's smile. It was the first time he'd smiled at the hovel since they'd arrived (he'd already smiled with Naminé, but that was at school). "Well, it's nice to meet you."

Zexion looked away from Roxas and at the front door. "I will help you break in," he said. "These houses aren't exactly the most secure, but you get what you pay for, I suppose." The bluenette rolled his head from one shoulder to the other, cracking his neck before he pushed Roxas out of the way of the front door. Then, with a little bit of a running head start, he kicked the door with much force.

To Roxas' surprise, the door flew back (still connected to the doorframe and hinges) and slammed against the wall that made up the walkway on the inside. "Holy shit!" he gasped. "That was _awesome_!" He'd never seen anyone actually kick a door in. He'd only seen it in movies.

"It's nothing special, really. I've been in the same situation and found that these doors are easy to break down." Zexion gave a shrug and looked down at Roxas' feet. Something about this boy was mysterious and lonely, and Roxas truly felt for him even though he didn't know why it was that the bluenette gave off such a vibe.

"Well you are one badass motherfucker, even if it wasn't anything special to you," Roxas said. He didn't wait for the boy to reply. Instead, very against his nature, he inquired, "Would you like to stay over and hang out?"

Zexion's head snapped up and he looked at Roxas right in the eyes. Icy blue eyes locked with ocean blue eyes. He looked genuinely startled, and for a moment, even flattered. His words betrayed his reaction, though. "I can't. I have to get some work done."

A feeling of rejection shot through Roxas, and he tried to ignore it. It wasn't as if he'd asked him on a date or anything. He was just terrified of rejection in any situation. Roxas opened his mouth to say something, but Zexion interrupted him.

"Another time, maybe tomorrow or the day after that but not today." With that, Zexion turned tail and left. He went back into his own hovel without once looking back at Roxas.

Of course, this left the strangest impression on the blond. He didn't know whether he should be happy or upset. With a shrug, Roxas entered his home and proceeded to do his homework until Sora got home and started demanding to know if the blond had gotten beaten up again.

* * *

><p>The next week or so of school was nothing very impressive or interesting. Roxas had continued to follow Sora around and had gotten to know his friends better. He had already given Riku a stamp of approval, though he really didn't have to since Sora wouldn't know that he approved until he confessed that he was gay.<p>

Also during that week, Roxas got to know Naminé better very slowly so that he didn't get his ass handed to him by Seifer. He talked to Zexion more, and found that the bluenette was in three of his classes, which was nice. He was very interesting to talk to, and they hit it off very well. They'd already sort of hung out once when they decided to study together at Roxas' house.

Their friendship looked promising and Roxas wanted to just follow around Zexion instead of his brother, but he refused to do that unless he was invited. The fact that Naminé was also friends with Zexion (they were in the same group of friends) made him want to hang out with them even more. He always looked around for the two of them at lunch and everything, but they appeared to hang out with their friends in a different part of the school.

Little did Roxas know, today would be that day. It was a Tuesday and he got ready just like any other normal day. Roxas was still as organized as ever, and Sora was all over the place. Even though the brunet constantly complained about not being able to fully enjoy his breakfast because he was always in a rush, he never made any changes to his daily schedule.

The twins had fallen into a pattern in which Sora would take Cloud's car to school when he wasn't going use it and Roxas would walk to school with Zexion. Whenever Cloud needed the car, Sora would walk with them, but that was not the case on this particular morning.

A knock sounded from the door, and Roxas grabbed his bag and slung it over his shoulder, calling goodbye to Sora, who was eating his cereal quickly. A grunt was the only reply Roxas got, and he chuckled and then opened the door to reveal a tired, bleary-eyed Zexion. He wasn't really a morning person either.

Zexion and Roxas chatted as they walked to school just like they always did. Their conversation topics ranged from school to life to music. As it had turned out, the two of them had similar musical tastes, so they often liked to share songs and artists they enjoyed.

Since the beginning of their friendship, Roxas had noticed something a little strange about the bluenette. He had tried to convince himself that nothing was wrong, but the evidence only seemed to pile up as time dragged on. Basically, Zexion would begin to think strange things and then they seemed to affect the world or people around them but Roxas could never figure out what exactly had changed. It made Roxas wonder if there could be other people who had powers as well. After all, it was a bit presumptuous to assume that Roxas was the only person in the world with a special ability. Still, even if he concluded that Zexion was expressing some sort of power, Roxas could not guess what it was for the life of him.

When they got to the school, Roxas went with Zexion to his locker as per usual, and then Zexion went to Roxas' locker, which was also normal practice. As Roxas shuffled through the mass of textbooks there for the right ones, the bluenette began to fidget as if he had something to say, but he was embarrassed to say it.

"Something wrong, Zexion?" Roxas asked in a concerned voice. Zexion was always so calm and laidback, so it was weird to see him stressed like this.

"Actually," he paused for a moment to look down at his feet, "I was wondering if you'd like to come with me and meet my friends and perhaps you'd like to sit with us at lunch?" He peeked at Roxas from under the long blue bangs that now covered his entire face due to his leaning over.

A smile unfurled on the blond's face and he even blushed a little. Truly, he was very happy and flattered that Zexion would invite him to hang out with his friends. He had actually seen this coming because Zexion often thought about asking him when they talked, but it was nice to hear it coming from his mouth. "Of course I'll hang out with you and your friends! Sounds great!"

Zexion brightened up considerably and he gave Roxas a small smile that the blond now knew were somewhat rare. To other people, it probably looked like Zexion had a crush on the blond, but Roxas knew that was not the case. It sort of flattered the blond, but Zexion was very envious of Roxas' hair and eyes. He always seemed to wish that he had Roxas' tanned skin instead of his naturally pale complexion. To be brief, Zexion just thought Roxas was really cool and wanted the blond to think he was cool, too. There weren't any romantic feelings.

"So perhaps I should prepare you for what lies ahead," Zexion said in such a serious voice that it made Roxas laugh.

"Prepare me? For what?" he wondered through his giggles. He was very excited about meeting all of Zexion and Naminé's friends. There was something in his gut that said he would love this group of people. In his heart, he felt that they would become his 'group' and he would be best friends with them.

"Yes, it may sound a bit silly," the bluenette said with a sigh as they walked down the hallway, "but I assure you that it is necessary. The group I associate with is somewhat intimidating. They like to mess with people and they are quite rude. In addition, they have somewhat volatile temperaments. I will inform you of them a little bit so that you never fall into their traps and make them angry."

"Fall into their traps?" Roxas wondered.

The bluenette nodded. "It is something like an initiation test and they tend to do these things that would normally distance themselves from others, but it really depends upon how you respond. You cannot control their actions, but you can control how you react to them. So, I will give you a bit of a rundown. Don't worry; they will be easy for you to remember. Are you ready?"

Roxas just nodded.

"First up is Larxene. She is the most intimidating, I would say. She has the shortest fuse, and her sense of humor is kicking puppies. She doesn't appreciate people calling her hair strands antennae. She hates people who are weak, so you must be a sarcastic bastard the way you normally are. Even if you do that, though, you probably will not be accepted by Larxene any time soon. It took her an entire year to finally stop lifting me by my undergarments when we first met."

"Okay, so who's next?" Roxas asked curiously.

"Next is Marluxia. He has pink hair, and he is very proud of it. He loves people who grovel at his feet, but you shouldn't do that because, while he will most certainly love it, no one else will. Marluxia is a bit tricky because he is like a girl in that he is very secretive and will never tell you exactly what he is thinking. I really can't give you much advice on how to not make him angry because if he was angry, he would never tell you. He's also very snarky."

"Then there is Axel. Axel is your gateway to being accepted into the group. Axel has fire-red hair and he's very... cool, I guess one could say. Axel is fairly even-tempered as long as you do not mention his tattoos. If you get Axel to like you, he will probably protect you from Larxene and Marluxia. I suppose that if you got any of the three to like you, they would protect you, but I think for you Axel would be the easiest to please."

Roxas tried to remember all that and nodded. "Right. So is that it?"

"That is everyone who you should be wary of. There is one more person, but he wouldn't hurt a fly, so to speak. His name is Demyx. He's very... nice. He is also very hyper. He and Axel get up to some crazy shenanigans. They are an explosive pair. Demyx is actually Naminé's older brother. She has two, and I'm guessing you already met Seifer. '_I can't wait to see Demyx..._'

The blond raised an eyebrow as they turned a corner. If he wasn't mistaken, Zexion's face seemed a little pink. "Oh, so what's Demyx like? Anything like Naminé?" he wondered, hoping that Zexion's thoughts would confirm Roxas' suspicions.

Zexion gave a little shrug.

'_Demyx is the most attractive person I have ever seen in my entire life._'

Roxas raised his eyebrows even further.

"He's… interesting, I suppose. He is very open and outgoing. He can play seven different instruments, but he's not in the school's band. The band students don't like him because he's related to Seifer and Seifer always hassles them. He's in swimming, anyway, so he wouldn't have the time to be in the school band. I think sometimes he wishes he could be in the school band, especially marching band. He says that it sounds like a lot of fun." Zexion stopped his rambling, which was strange because Zexion never talked so fervently about anyone. '_Oh, god, I hope Roxas doesn't realize I like Demyx._'

A smile graced Roxas' face. "Wow, it sure sounds like you know a lot about him."

In an instant, Zexion began sputtering. "Oh, no, not especially. That's such a strange notion! The mere idea of me knowing Demyx so well is very strange, indeed." '_Shit! Zexion, you are such a fucking idiot! Does the word 'subtlety' mean nothing to you?_'

"Not that I'm impatient or question your ways or whatever, but where are we going?" Roxas asked. They'd been standing in the same spot in the hallway for the past five minutes or so. Despite the irritation in the blond's voice, he actually thought it was very sweet that Zexion couldn't think properly when Demyx was on his mind.

Shock became apparent on the bluenette's face, then embarrassment. "Oh yes! My apologies; it's this way," he hastily said, quickly continuing on down the hall.

When they finally stopped, they were in another area that students ate lunch in that was on the complete other side of the school of the one Sora and his friends went to. At the very back, there were three people sitting against a couple of vending machines. As Roxas and Zexion got closer, he realized that Naminé was one of the people. The other two people must've been Axel and Demyx. That was it, though, Marluxia and Larxene weren't there.

"Good morning, Sexy Zexy!" said the red-haired person who must've been Axel. The boy stood up, and Roxas' first impression of the redhead was that he was very tall and lanky. Roxas only came up to his chin, maybe, if he was lucky. Of course, it didn't help that Roxas was 5'4", but still! Axel must've been at least 6'1" if not taller.

"Who's this cutie?" Axel asked, reaching a hand out to squeeze Roxas' cheek.

On reflex alone, Roxas swatted his hand away before it came in contact with him. He instantly felt scared and nervous. Axel was _so tall_ and his hair was spiked like a fucking dragon's spines or something like that. Plus, his eyes were a piercing, eerie green that gave Roxas the willies. They were like acid that sizzled away at his outsides and it was almost like the redhead was staring right into his very soul.

Zexion placed a hand on the poor boy's shoulder and it relaxed him considerably. "This is Roxas. He is new here and he and I are friends. Roxas, that's Demyx," he motioned to the boy with dirty blond hair who was sitting against the vending machine, "this is Axel, and you already know Naminé."

"Hey, Roxas!" Naminé said with a smile.

Roxas would have liked to return her greeting, but Axel's hands were on his cheeks, squishing them together. Roxas tried to back away and swatted at Axel's hands repeatedly, but the tall redheaded demon simply refused to let go.

"Oh, you are so _cute_!" Axel cooed to him and a voice more suited to be used on a dog or a baby. "Who's a cute lil guy? Who's a cutie? You are! Yes, you are!"

Roxas started taking swings at Axel himself as he started making protesting noises. He wanted to say "Hey let me go!" but it came out as "Askda;l a;sad;!"

"Come on, Ax, leave him alone!" Demyx laughed as Zexion took a seat on the ground next to him. "He's just a poor little boy, after all!"

Finally, Axel released Roxas. He didn't quite let him go, though, he wrapped his arms around the boy and fell back down onto his ass, pulling the blond down with him into the demon's lap. "Aw, can we keep him, Dem?" Axel asked hopefully.

Naminé was laughing her head off by this point.

"No! Let go of me, you creep!" Roxas demanded as he struggled to get out of Axel's lap. "Zexion, help me!" he called to his friend, who was now reading some sort of huge book.

"Well, see around here we call him Sexy Zexy, Roxy-poo," Axel said with a grin. "And anyway, he can't help you now. You're stuck."

Roxas yelped when he felt something warm and wet brush against his ear. His face erupted into red and his mission to remove himself from the redhead became vital. As much as he scrambled around and squirmed, he only managed to twist himself so that he was facing the redhead, which was worse because then he was straddling his waist.

Something unfathomable ran through Roxas' stomach and his heart caught in his throat when he saw Axel's face so close up. They were practically nose to nose, and the redhead was very, _very_ attractive, Roxas couldn't help but notice. He wasn't sure if he'd ever seen a man as attractive as Axel in real life. It was strange; as intimidating as Axel was, it seemed to draw Roxas in more.

Axel, whose face had previously been twisted up in a smug grin, was staring at him with a deadpan expression. All playfulness had left his face, and there was something so strange about it all. Green danced with blue in a strange, almost hypnotizing waltz, but neither gave anything away. A wall faced with another wall and neither of them was even close to being torn down.

It was almost as if everything had stopped. Like it all just froze there. Demyx was mid-laugh and Zexion was mid-blink. Naminé was mid-fallen over with her own laughter. Roxas wasn't even sure if he was breathing. Axel was, he could feel the redhead's breath hot on his face, but that was it.

Luckily for Roxas, the bell rang, and he took the opportunity to hastily get up and began to walk quickly away, Zexion following after him since they had first period together. Roxas felt like his legs were made of jelly. Staring at Axel in that moment, everything felt like it was floating and nothing was quite real. The strangest thing to Roxas was the fact that Axel's face was completely blank. No truth anywhere.

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><p><strong>AN: **So what did you think of the chapter? I hope you liked my version of Zexion, since in all the fanfics I've read, he tends to have a wide variety of personalities. I hate when people say he's emo and such and such. I think he's just lonely and misunderstood.

Also, what did you think of Axel? The scene at the end was fairly… cliché/cheesy, I suppose, but I just wanted to highlight their first meeting and make it memorable.

**At this point, I would like to request any ideas or suggestions you may have for the plot/characters.** I thought I had all these ideas, but I just feel like I need some inspiration or some more ideas.

In any case, I really hoped you enjoyed the chapter! If you loved it, leave a review telling me why and if you hated it leave a review telling me why.

A plus tard, mes amis~!


	5. Too Many Fights, I Swear

**A/N:** I don't really have much to say aside from thanking everyone who left reviews and fave and alerted this story. Hm.

Please enjoy this chapter!

Kingdom Hearts © Disney and Enix

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><p>All throughout first period, Roxas wanted to ask Zexion about Axel, but he didn't. He didn't want to seem too curious about the redhead and he wasn't quite sure why. To the logical part of his brain, it made sense that he would want to know about the boy who had physically assaulted him and licked his ear. He couldn't exactly ask his friend about why Axel didn't have anything written on his forehead, but he supposed there was a logical explanation for it.<p>

Occasionally, it happened that Roxas ran into someone who didn't have anything on their forehead. Usually, it occurred when the person was spacing out. Sometimes, though, it was more unexplainable. Some people simply never had anything on their foreheads, and the blond wasn't sure why. He'd also noticed that when people were in shock or pure euphoria or anything that would make one's mind go blank, their foreheads were also blank. He decided that if Axel was any of these cases, it was either that he had been spacing out (which didn't actually seem very likely) or that his mind had gone blank with surprise.

Still, even with all these other questions in his mind, Roxas was scared to ask Zexion. Truthfully, the bluenette seemed a little bit sheepish. His forehead expressed a fear that Roxas wouldn't want to eat lunch with him and his friends after all. Roxas also felt sheepish, and was scared that things would be awkward and strange if he did eat lunch with Zexion. Even so, when the bluenette asked if he would still eat with them, Roxas couldn't help but accept. He would tough it out.

When "nutrition break" (that was the official name for the fifteen minute break between second and third period) rolled around, Roxas was excited to finally tell Sora that he wouldn't be eating lunch with him. The blond practically skipped to their locker, and found that Sora was already there, which was normal. What wasn't exactly normal was that Riku was with him leaning against the locker next to the twins' locker. Roxas really shouldn't have been surprised. Sora and Riku were practically made for each other.

"Roxy!" Sora greeted when the blond got close enough.

"Hey, Roxas," Riku said with a smile. The silverette was always very wary of the blond, and Roxas liked the feeling of power he got from it. Riku's reasoning for being wary of Roxas was because he was afraid that if he wasn't, Sora would get angry and not want to be friends with him anymore. If only Riku knew that Sora was an idiot and would never notice his efforts unless someone pointed them out.

"Hey guys," Roxas returned the greetings. "Sora, I'm gonna eat lunch with my friends today, okay?" he said with an unintentional smile. It just made him so happy that he couldn't help it!

Sora immediately turned to look at him with a smile that went from ear to ear. '_I'm so glad you proved me wrong_.' "Oh, okay, that's great! It's about time you made some friends of your own," he grumbled jokingly, "Riku and I were just starting to get sick of you, right Riku?" He smiled up at his obsession.

Riku looked a little reluctant to answer. "Oh, heh, yeah, completely," he said with a nervous chuckle.

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><p>Roxas was very nervous as fourth period drew to a close. He didn't have fourth period with either Zexion or Naminé, which meant that there wasn't anyone there to calm his nerves. Even if they had been there, he probably wouldn't have told them about his worries. Worries trickled through his brain like sweat, unpleasant and unsettling.<p>

What if Zexion changed his mind and told Roxas that he wouldn't fit in with them? What if Larxene and Marluxia hated him and decided to beat him up? What if Roxas said something wrong that made them all angry? What if Axel threw him into a trashcan or gave him a swirlie?

The possibilities were endless. Still, Roxas tried to push these worries to the back of his mind. He had to appear confident, and to do so, he had to believe that everything would be okay. He laughed the situation off to make it seem smaller. It _was_ a little silly if he thought about it.

When the bell rang for lunch, Roxas hurried to his locker before heading over to Zexion's so that they could walk together. He arrived there earlier than the bluenette, which had initially made him worry a little that his friend had already came and gone. Luckily, he spotted the emo-haired boy before he decided to give up.

"Hey, Roxas, I'm glad you're still up for having lunch with us," Zexion said, locking his eyes with Roxas'. Zexion liked to look people directly in the eyes when he spoke to them, which was such a blunt, honest habit that it always embarrassed Roxas for reasons he couldn't name. The bluenette definitely came off as much more confident than he thought.

"Of course I still want to. Why wouldn't I?" the blond wondered.

"This morning, I thought for sure that Axel had scared you out of wanting to. He's always been that way; up in everyone's face. He sort of has a past of people leaving him as a friend, so now he acts as weird and as in-your-face as possible so that if you accept him like that, you're accepting him at his strangest."

"Huh, interesting. Where did he come up with something like that?" Roxas wondered, mentally giving the redhead some props.

Zexion shrugged as he closed his locker door. "I'm not quite sure, but his ideology behind it is that if someone can work past his craziness to accept him, then they must really want to be his friend and they wouldn't be surprised by anything he does or says." The bluenette paused for a moment. "Although, this morning was a bit strange. He was acting a little differently than normal."

"Maybe something happened to him or something," Roxas offered.

Zexion just nodded in response and the two friends continued on down the hall towards the group. Both of them brought lunches in order to avoid the lunch line, which was ridiculously long because only the cafeteria sold lunches, and it was a fairly small cafeteria.

When the two of them arrived at the student area, which Roxas had today learned was called a lounge, Demyx, Marluxia, and Larxene were there already. The blond heard Zexion sigh, he grew a little more nervous than he already was. If Zexion was sweating this, then it seemed to give Roxas a damn good reason to worry, too.

"Hello, everyone. Larxene, Marluxia, this is my friend Roxas. He will be eating lunch with us today. Roxas," he turned to the blond, "this is Marluxia." He gestured to a very feminine-looking man with pink, feathered hair. "And this is Larxene." He gestured this time to the very innocent-looking blonde-haired girl sitting in Marluxia's lap. She sort of reminded Roxas of a cat. If Zexion hadn't told him that she actually had a horrible temper, her cute face would've fooled him.

"Oh, new blood? How interesting!" Marluxia said as he inspected Roxas with his eyes.

"It's nice to meet you, too," Roxas said. His arms were glued to his sides in fear and anxiousness.

Larxene didn't say anything to Roxas. She just eyed him with a creepy look on her face. '_A new play toy._' Her eyes seemed to give off an evil, red glow.

Zexion sat down next to Demyx just like he had earlier this morning. Roxas went to sit down next to them, but Larxene grabbed him and pulled him down into her lap.

Marluxia immediately set about touching Roxas' face with his hands. "Oh, wow, he certainly is a doll, isn't he, Larxy?"

The blonde simply grinned and licked her lips. She had no reservations about getting in Roxas' face with a grin. "Sure is, Marly," she replied.

Roxas normally would have struggled to get away, but he had a feeling that fighting in this situation was a bad idea. The look on Larxene's face gave Roxas the chills, and he struggled not to shudder. Of course, Marluxia was also giving him a strange, scary look, but he was much more reserved and creepy in a different way.

"What's wrong, _Roxas_?" Larxene asked in a sickly sweet voice. "You don't like Mama Larxy or Daddy Marly?" She licked her lips. "That really is a shame, because we _love_ you."

"Um, if you let me go I'll just…" Roxas started.

Larxene swiped Roxas' lunch bag from him and dumped the contents on the floor. She took a small bag of Doritos from it and then handed Marluxia his sandwich. "Hope you don't mind, but we seem to have forgotten our lunches today," she said, shoving Roxas roughly to the ground, making sure he landed on his face.

The poor boy let out a yelp as his cheek came into contact with the cold floor, scraping it up. "Oh, um," Roxas sputtered once he righted himself. Anger was beginning to well inside of him, and looked over at Zexion. He was wondering how Zexion could let them do this to him and just sit there, but when he looked over, he realized that it was because he was reading a book and Demyx was trying to get the bluenette's attention.

Realizing he was on his own here, Roxas glared back at Larxene and Marluxia. "Hey, give those back!" he demanded, snatching the sandwich away from Marluxia, who was about to take a bite out of it.

The pink-haired man just sat there silently, staring at Roxas, and it made his skin crawl. Zexion wasn't kidding when he said that Marluxia would never tell you if he was angry or not. However, the bluenette didn't know of Roxas' ability. '_Fucking asshole cunt bitch dick face little fucking whore!_'

Larxene was much more open about her thoughts on the situation. "What the _fuck_ do you think you're doing, dickwad?" she demanded in a venomous voice. She dropped the chips to the ground so that she could seize Roxas by the collar of his shirt.

By this time, Demyx and Zexion had taken notice of what was happening. Demyx glared at the two offenders. "Hey guys, cut it out! He didn't do anything to you! Leave him alone," he told them angrily. It touched Roxas a little bit that at least _one_ person had stuck up for him.

Marluxia and Larxene just rolled their eyes at him before going back to tormenting Roxas.

"Hey, assholes, leave the fucking kid alone," a voice spoke up.

Roxas looked over to see that Axel and Naminé had finally arrived. He had to keep his jaw from dropping open at the fact that Axel had stood up for him, too. And this time, it actually worked.

"Whatever," Larxene mumbled, letting her victim go. "I'm still eating your chips, though, so shut the fuck up about it."

"Roxas," Naminé called for his attention from her seat next to Axel, "come here," she told him in a gentle voice. There was a nice smile on her face, and she couldn't have looked more inviting if she tried.

A smile found its way on Roxas' face and he quickly gathered the contents of his lunch bag that littered the floor, and he made his way over to the girl. He sat on the outside of her so that he wouldn't be next to Axel. Frankly, the redhead still scared him. Just looking at him made his heart race.

They sat there for a while in silence until Naminé excused herself to go to the bathroom. That left Axel and Roxas there alone. Roxas tried to look like he was very interested in his lunch in case Axel felt the urge to talk to him. He also turned away from the redhead, hoping to drive his point home.

"So, Blondie, where you from?" Axel asked. Either he didn't realize that Roxas didn't want to speak to him or he simply didn't care.

"Don't call me Blondie," Roxas huffed.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever, just answer the question," the redhead said, rolling his eyes. '_Calm the fuck down, Axel_.'

Roxas wondered why he would need to calm himself down. Maybe he was just trying to keep his temper in check. "I moved here from Destiny Islands."

"Oh really? I hear the babes there are pretty smokin'. Is there any truth to that?"

Roxas shrugged. "I guess. A lot of them are pretty stupid, though. It's not the smartest place in the world," he replied. He had actually dated a few girls back in Destiny Islands in order to cover up his sexual orientation. They were definitely very pretty.

All the blond received as a response was a nod. "Alright, now you ask something about me, okay?"

"Why should I?" he wondered.

"Come on, Roxy, it's just a game! I'll answer any question you want! Ask away," Axel said with a grin. There was something slightly suspicious about his actions, but Roxas decided not to comment on them directly.

"Don't call me Roxy! Only special people can call me that," Roxas barked at him.

"Aw, I'm special enough, aren't I, Blondie?"

Roxas rolled his eyes, but chose not to protest. "Why are you being a lot more… normal, I guess, than you were this morning? You were all over me earlier!" Roxas explained.

A creepy glint made its way into Axel's eyes and he was grinning vibrantly at the blond now. "Oh, did you like that? You want me to do it again?"

"Hell no!" Roxas retorted.

"C'mere, Roxy!" Axel was on top of Roxas in a matter of minutes, leaning over the blond on his knees, pinning him to the floor.

Roxas was just about to protest when Axel's hands darted to his sides and his fingers began to rub against his ribs. It was at times like these that Roxas wished he was ticklish in a more obscure place like his elbows or his neck. He couldn't help but burst out laughing as his sensitive area was tickled. "S-stop…!" he guffawed.

Axel cackled as he increased his tickling speed, grinning devilishly down at his victim. "Aw, is little Roxy ticklish?" he sneered.

The next events were somewhat of a blur. Someone called out, "Roxas!" and then suddenly the blond was leaning heavily against his twin, staring down at Axel, who was glaring at his twin.

Roxas took a moment to find his balance and his senses. He noticed that Larxene, Marluxia, Demyx, and Zexion were all watching this. Roxas was standing next to his brother, Naminé at his side, and Riku behind them. "Sora, what are you doing here?" Roxas asked, bewildered.

Sora was glaring fiercely back at Axel, and it really scared Roxas. Sora was _never_ angry. Even when he was, it was a pouty anger. It was never a glaring, hateful anger. His glare turned on Roxas. "I wanted to see you, and then I find you like _this_?" he demanded, finger pointing accusingly at the floor under Axel.

Axel stood up and stretched his neck before approaching Sora. "Hey, it's _you_," he said with a smirk. "What exactly is your problem, shrimp? And why should you even care what I do to my little Roxy-bear?" He stroked the underside of Sora's chin with a single finger.

Sora took an abrupt step backwards, running into Riku. He was a little too angry to apologize, though. "Roxas isn't _yours_, asshole! He's my brother! We're twins, in case you didn't know!" He wrapped an arm around Roxas' waist and pulled the blond tightly against him, so tight that it hurt.

"Oh, _really_?" Axel questioned with an eyebrow quirked upwards. "Let's see some twin on twin action in that case."

"Why, you!" Sora sputtered, dropping Roxas and grabbing Axel by the collar.

"Whoa, whoa, relax Sora! Axel's harmless, I swear!" Demyx interrupted quickly, separating the brunet from the redhead that was at least a head taller than him. "He just likes to play around! Don't worry about it; he was just pushing your buttons. I swear, all he did was tickle him!"

This little show entertained Roxas more than he could describe. So he helpfully interjected, "Well, you forgot the part where he molested me this morning."

"He _WHAT_?" Sora shrieked, his entire face red with rage. He tried to shove Demyx out of the way so that he could get at Axel, but he was stopped by Riku this time. He fought against Riku. "Riku, are you on my side or what?" he hissed. Somehow, it seemed that Sora's eyes had turned an icy blue color even though they were normally a deep, ocean blue.

'_Oh, god, please don't hate me for this, Sora!_' "Or what. Relax, come on, we have Roxas, so let's just go. Yelling at Axel won't help anything," the silverette replied. With a grin he added, "Trust me, it won't."

Sora looked up at Riku's face, studying him closely. Calmness overcame the brunet, and he looked back at Axel again with a newfound confidence. "You're right. Roxas, we'll talk about this at home later. Let's go." With that, he pointed his nose up in the air and began to walk away, pulling Roxas with him by the hand.

Roxas couldn't help but laugh as he waved goodbye to everyone at the vending machines. He could already tell that no matter what Sora said, he hadn't seen the last of this group. Not by a long shot.

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><p>When Roxas heard someone unlocking the front door hours later, he grew nervous, knowing it was Sora, and he would probably chew Roxas out for hanging with the guy he'd specifically told him not to. To Roxas' displeasure, it certainly <em>was<em> Sora. He could tell from the fact that he couldn't get the damn door to open properly. The blond began to hope that maybe Sora would forget about the whole lunch incident and just let it slide. Sadly, he knew that was not the case when Sora finally opened and closed the door and shouted, "_ROXAS!_"

Roxas cringed as his brother stomped into the living room, dropping his backpack angrily in the hallway. Sora had on a very pouty angry face, which eased Roxas' worry a little bit. At least it wasn't the hateful glare.

"Yes, darling?" Roxas wondered sweetly. Sora was always a sucker for pet names, especially when Roxas used them since he wasn't normally so affectionate.

"Oh, so you _are_ here," Sora practically spat as he sat himself huffily down next to his twin on the couch, completely ignoring the affectionate name.

The blond offered his brother a charming smile. "Who else would it be, baby?"

"Stop acting innocent, Roxas. We need to discuss what happened at lunch. I already told you I don't want you to hang around that 'Axel,'" Sora said, using air quotes.

"Does Axel not really exist?" Roxas wondered aloud.

"What are you talking about?" his brother demanded.

"You used air quotes when you said Axel's name. Like as in he doesn't really exist."

Sora just glared at him. "Roxas, no more being around him. He's a bad influence and a bad person. Do not get mixed up with him."

Roxas quickly thought of a way to end the tension between him and his brother. He didn't want to tell Sora that he would do whatever he wanted in a way that made him angry. He thought of something quickly enough. "It's our guy love, that's all it is, Sora." The blond grinned. "It's guy love, he's mine, I'm his."

The first response was a deadpan expression. "Roxas, you're not even gay," the brunet replied, not getting the reference.

"There's nothing gay about it in our eyes!" Roxas sang.

It was at that point that Sora realized what Roxas was referring to. "I can't handle you right now, Roxas! You're being ridiculous!" As he ran up the stairs he called down, "You don't even _like_ Scrubs!"

Roxas sighed, knowing the storm had passed for now.

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><p>Dinner that night was somewhat awkward because Sora normally did all the talking for everyone. He only needed the occasional nudge to keep going, but tonight, Sora didn't feel like talking much at all. He just glared at Roxas and stabbed at his plate, eating very messily. It was clear that the conflict hadn't been resolved quite yet.<p>

"Sora, honey, is something wrong? You've barely said a single sentence all night!" Tifa pointed out.

Sora didn't look at her. "Why don't you ask _Roxas_? Clearly, what with all his stupid… _shenanigans_ he wants more attention! Going against me and my brotherly advice, who the hell are you, anyway? Who are you, Roxas! I don't know you anymore!"

Roxas rolled his eyes and sighed in an irritated fashion. "Are you _still_ going on about that? I don't get why it's such a big deal."

"You don't get it? How could you not get it?" Sora demanded. "Firstly, you go off and do exactly what I tell you _not_ to do!"

"I didn't even know it was _him_!" Roxas defended himself.

"Second, you wound up in that position!"

"It wasn't anything bad! You saw for yourself!"

"Third, you made me lose my temper in front of Riku! He thinks I'm so uncool now!"

"You don't even _have_ a temper, Sora! And he probably still thinks you're the coolest thing since sliced bread!" Roxas may have had a soft spot for Sora, but he was offended that his brother thought he could tell him who not to talk to. It wasn't even about Axel, really (not for Roxas, anyway). It was about Sora not letting him feel free to choose his own friends.

"Roxas, you are so ungrateful! I always try to help you, and never once do you thank me," Sora growled.

That was the last straw. "What." Roxas took a moment to absorb that statement.

"Now, boys…" Tifa started, but was silenced by Roxas' rage.

"_You_ always try to help _me_ and I never bother to help you back at all? Sora, I do so much shit for you, it's not even funny! Fuck, man, I do _so much shit for you_ _and I don't __**expect**__ a thank you_! You know why, Sora? 'Cause we're brothers! Everything between us is always fine until you don't get what you want! I never ask anything from you, Sora. _Never_. And here, you have the audacity to tell me who I can and cannot talk to? You can't control me, Sora, so don't even think you can. I already know what you think about Axel, and to be honest, _I don't give a fuck_! He stood up for me!" Roxas was so angry that he just couldn't sit still. He exploded up out of his seat and glared down at his brother with a look he'd never really given anyone before.

Sora's eyes welled up and he stared brokenly up at Roxas. Fiery blue eyes burned at deflated ones. He had no comeback for that.

Feeling powerful and triumphant for the first time in a long time, Roxas stalked off to their room, where he promptly slammed the door… and began to cry. He was so angry that he just couldn't help it. He cried when he got angry enough, it was just a reflex.

The sound of his phone vibrating interrupted Roxas' mad sniffling and angry tears. He flopped onto his bunk on his stomach and took out the device. He had one new text message from a number he didn't recognize, but the area code was the Radient Garden area code, so he figured it could be someone he knew.

The text said, 'Ey roxxxy, wat up babiee? ;)'

Roxas sent a reply asking who was texting him, though he had a horrible feeling in his gut that it was Axel. Almost immediately after he sent it, he received another text message, but it was from Zexion. The contents told Roxas that Zexion had heard yelling from his house and asked if everything was okay. Roxas vaguely explained what had happened, going no further than saying that he and Sora had had a fight.

The next text message he received was from the mystery number, confirming his suspicions that, yes, it was indeed Axel. He wondered briefly how the redhead had gotten his number, but there were multiple ways he could've gotten it. He texted something mildly insulting back, but he knew Axel would make light of it, so he didn't worry.

The following text from Zexion was an inquiry wondering if Roxas would like to spend the night at his house (Zexion knew that he and Sora shared a room). At the moment, nothing could have sounded better to Roxas. Without even considering asking his parents before he left, Roxas packed his backpack with a change of clothes and then slipped into his pajamas.

As Roxas descended the stairs, he found that his parents and Sora were now in the living room on the couch mindlessly watching TV. "I'm sleeping at Zexion's house tonight," he informed them tersely, walking out the front door and closing it behind him with a satisfying slam.

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><p><strong>AN: **Conflict! I'm short on words at the moment. Roxas, alright, fight, fight, fight. Oh, Axel quotes. I hope the argument was to your likings, yup.

If you liked the chapter, please review it! It's really motivational and I'm actually a little bummed I'm not getting very many reviews… Anyway, please share your thoughts with me!

I will see you all on the flip side. Peace.


	6. The Ass Word

**A/N: **This took a little longer than anticipated because my monitor finally burnt out, so I couldn't type anything on my computer for a few days. So, in order to compensate, this chapter is longer than the previous ones =D I was also on a roll with writing this and I wasn't quite sure where to break it off…

Thanks everyone so much for all the reviews and alerts and faves! I really do appreciate all the support =) 'Tis very motivating indeed…

Now please enjoy this extra long chapter!

Kingdom Hearts © Disney and Enix

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><p>Zexion was quick to open the door when Roxas knocked on it. The slate-haired boy had probably been waiting by the front door since they were next-door neighbors. He welcomed the blond in quite cordially, and quickly showed him around the house. Its floor plan was very similar to Roxas' house, but he sort of expected that it would be.<p>

One thing strange about Zexion's house, though, was that no one else was home. Roxas asked him about it, and Zexion explained that his parents were working out of town and they'd been gone for a few days already. They weren't supposed to come home for another week. The blond asked if it was okay that he was there if that was the case, but Zexion assured him that it was perfectly fine.

The two of them settled down in the kitchen and leaned against the counters.

"I'll make us something," Zexion said as he went to a particular cabinet. "Would you like coffee or tea?" he inquired, looking at Roxas over his shoulder.

"Tea, please. Any kind you have is fine with me," Roxas replied. He was very grateful to Zexion for being so kind to him. He definitely liked being here a lot better than being at his own hovel. There was a very laidback, relaxed air about the entire place. It was very hands-off and… smart, in a way.

A few minutes later, Zexion was taking the screaming kettle off the stove and filled two coffee mugs with the steaming water. The teabags were already there. Sugar and milk were added, and then the two of them were sipping tea together. They were silent at first, merely enjoying the other's company, but eventually they started to talk.

"Roxas, if you would like to talk to me about your fight with Sora, I would be glad to listen," Zexion offered in a somewhat quiet voice, as if he was sheepish about offering. He immediately added, "Actually, I'd like to extend that offer to anything you'd like to talk about. If something is ever bothering you, I'm always here to listen." By this time, Zexion's face was a light shade of pink.

Roxas couldn't help but smile in return. It was definitely very sweet of Zexion to offer such a thing. He felt like he'd really made a friend here, and a really good one, too. "Thanks, Zexion, that's really nice of you. The same goes for me, just so you know. If something's on your mind, don't be afraid to tell me." I would probably already know what it was anyway, Roxas didn't say.

An expression of shock ran through Zexion's facial features and he hid his face by taking another sip from his tea. "Thank you very much. I really, _really_ appreciate that…" He put his coffee mug down and crossed his arms over his chest. His usual serious look returned and he clearly felt more composed. "But more importantly, do you want to talk about your and Sora's argument?"

The blond replied with a shrug, but then he explained to Zexion what exactly had happened. He told the bluenette all about how Sora had met Axel before they started attending school and about how he didn't like that Sora thought he could make Roxas do every single little thing he wanted. By the time he was finished, he was breathing heavily because talking about it brought out his passion toward the situation. He realized then that Zexion hadn't really said anything at all while he'd been raving.

"Well, I can completely understand your frustrations. It sounds like this problem has existed before coming to Radiant Garden… Has it?" Zexion wondered.

"It's happened before, yeah. No matter how many times I tell Sora he can't control me, though, it seems like he just doesn't understand that I'm not his plaything. Sora's like that, though. I know he has control issues, especially when it comes to me, but the part that _really_ makes me mad is that he gets himself to think that he does all these things for me, which he doesn't, and that I never thank him or do anything nice in return. I do tons of nice things for him. It's more like _he_ never thanks _me_. It's not like I expect him to thank me, though," Roxas mumbled. "I do nice things for him because he's my brother and I care about him…"

The two of them talked for a while longer before deciding to turn in for the night. They decided to share Zexion's bed because Roxas confessed that he like sharing a room with someone since he and Sora had been forced into the same room.

All in all, it was a good night, and Roxas was really glad to have the bluenette as a friend. He had a feeling they were both very good for each other and Zexion thought the same. It bothered Roxas, though, when Zexion began having a bunch of negative thoughts about himself as they were both trying to fall asleep. He kept wondering why the blond would be friends with someone like him. Roxas decided then that he would repay Zexion for tonight by helping to boost his self-confidence.

The next morning, Roxas asked Zexion if they could hurry to get ready so that they wouldn't run into Sora on their way to school. The blond wasn't quite ready to face his twin yet. Sora was probably feeling guilty, and he would probably apologize soon, but Roxas didn't want to deal with it so early in the day.

At nutrition, Sora finally confronted Roxas and pleaded for his twin's forgiveness.

"Roxy, please, please, _please_ forgive me! I know I'm a terrible brother and I shouldn't have said those things! They aren't even true and I know I try to control you sometimes, but I only want the best for you!" Sora rambled on and on.

It was nice at first, but it quickly got annoying. "Fine!" Roxas finally cried as he tried to cover his ears while fishing his things out of their locker.

Sora gasped overly dramatically. "Really?" he wondered overenthusiastically. He was quick to throw his arms around his twin.

"Hey, hey, wait! I have a condition!" Roxas said, shoving his brother off of him.

Immediately, Sora retreated and looked at him worriedly. "A condition? What is it?"

Roxas cornered the brunet against the lockers behind him. He jabbed an accusatory finger into his chest. "You need to let me have my own friends, even if Axel is one of them."

"But Rox!" he protested. "I _really_ hate him. A lot."

"I know, but if I want to be friends with him, you just have to accept that. Otherwise, I am not forgiving you, got it?"

"Riku!" Sora whined, glancing at the silverette for support.

Riku had been standing there just watching the spectacle, not wanting to get caught up in this. He put a hand up and said, "Do not want."

"Sora?" Roxas asked, bringing his twin's attention back to him.

Sora pouted for a moment and finally said, "Fine, but _I_ have a condition, too!"

Roxas rolled his eyes and put a hand on his hip. "And what would that be?"

"I don't want him hanging around at our house, okay? If I see him in our house, I will kill him and you. That is my only condition, take it or leave it."

For a moment, Roxas considered the proposal. He decided it didn't really matter if Axel got to be at their house because Zexion's was right next door. "Deal." The twins shook on it. Sora pulled him into a hug from their handshake.

"Love you, Roxy! I really, really do!" He planted a loud, wet kiss on Roxas' cheek and then began to nuzzle at him.

Roxas wasn't as enthusiastic to show his affection, and did so by allowing Sora to do what he wanted. The both of them froze up, alarmed as they heard a catcall and a wolf whistle. They immediately turned to see Axel and Demyx slowly walking past them with what appeared to be lecherous grins. Roxas couldn't help but notice how Demyx ran his tongue along his lips mock-seductively.

"Good show, ladies," Axel applauded loudly as their distance increased.

"Asshole!" Sora nearly screamed after releasing Roxas.

Roxas gasped at his twin (he honestly couldn't care less about Axel and Demyx's teasing). "Sora! Did you just cuss?" he wondered dramatically. It wasn't a big deal to him, it probably wasn't a big deal to Riku either, but he knew it would definitely bother Sora.

The brunet quite predictably gasped and clapped a hand over his mouth. "Oh my god, don't tell Mom or Dad! It just slipped out! It was a total accident, I swear!"

Riku decided now was a good time to join in the fun. "Well we all know you definitely swear. You swear like a pirate, Sora," he teased as he fixed Sora with a fake disappointed expression on his face.

Roxas laughed as the horror continued to deepen on the brunet's face.

'_Oh, god, he thinks I'm dirty now…_' Sora's forehead read. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to! Honest!" He brought a textbook to his face so that he could hide behind it. "Seriously, Rox, don't tell Mom or Dad! They'd be so disappointed in me!"

"Lighten up, Sora," the blond said, smacking Sora playfully on the shoulder. "They wouldn't care at all. I mean, last night I must've sworn at least five times and they didn't say a damn thing."

"See, Sora? You wouldn't be a total disappointment just because of that. I'm sure there are a bunch of other factors involved," Riku said, patting Sora's shoulder comfortingly. This earned him a pouty scowl from Sora.

"Look, Rox, I'm the innocent child! You were always destined to be the rebellious, difficult, bad child and I was always destined to be the innocent, pure, good child! It's simple psychosis, Roxas!" he declared.

Riku chuckled and smirked. "I think you mean psychology, Squirt, not psychosis."

Roxas grinned at his twin as he slammed their locker shut. "Aside from your improper word-usage, you: innocent and pure?" The blond had to laugh at that. "Sure, in your dreams! Oh wait, not even there. You have lots of sexy Slutty McSlut Slut dreams."

They were walking slowly down the hall now, not wanting to reach the other swimmers. The three of them always felt so stifled with so many ears listening and mouths opening.

Sora reddened considerably. "Do not! I am innocent and pure! Innocent and pure, I tell you! You can't prove a thing!"

"Oh, can't I?" Roxas quirked a brow. "Sweat baby, sweat baby," he started, but was quickly interrupted by Sora.

"Sex is a Texas drought!" he loudly supplied. "Me and you do the kind of stuff that only Prince would sing about. So put your hands down my pants and I'll bet you'll feel nuts. Yes I'm Siskel, yes I'm Ebert and you're getting two thumbs up!" Sora gesticulated wildly as he sang.

Riku burst out laughing. "Innocent and pure, alright. Hit the nail on the head, Sora."

Sora stopped and glared up at the silverette, his face beet red. "This proves nothing! Don't listen to him, Riku, I'm an angel!"

"Sure." Riku just grinned. '_How adorable_.'

* * *

><p>Roxas hurried over to Zexion's locker after fourth period much like the previous day. This time, though, he wasn't as worried to have lunch with him and his group. Actually, he was rather excited to get to know them all better. He knew that if Marluxia or Larxene tried to pull something on him, Axel would definitely stand up for him again. Despite what Sora said, the blond thought that Axel was a good guy.<p>

"Hello, Roxas," Zexion said as he approached his locker. "Since you're here, I'm going to guess that you managed to patch things up with Sora."

"Yup! There were some conditions involved on both our ends, but the problem has been resolved for the most part. He won't be coming anywhere near me if I'm with Axel, though," Roxas replied.

Zexion handed Roxas a couple of textbooks to hold while he rearranged his already-organized locker a bit. "It is a little strange to me that Sora would dislike Axel. Not because Axel is all that likeable, because he isn't, but because hatred doesn't seem to suit him."

Roxas hummed in agreement. "Yeah, I don't know what the issue is. He just really doesn't like Axel for some reason."

The two friends walked casually down the hall talking about a lot of things. They were good complements of each other, but also analogous and fitting. When the two of them arrived at the lounge, Naminé and Marluxia were already there chatting happily together. Maybe it was a bit mean, but Roxas thought it was surprising that Marluxia could have such a pleasant smile. He just hadn't expected it.

"Hey there, Sexy Zexy! It's nice to see that you brought your little kitten along with you again today," the pink-haired man said with a smirk. "I'm glad that I have the chance to play with him again today."

"Of course," Zexion said, not amused. "Now where exactly is your hussie? Is she working the glory hole again?" he asked without so much as blinking.

Roxas and Naminé laughed at that. Zexion didn't usually say anything as vulgar, which made it twice as funny. Roxas and Zexion sat down together next to the blonde girl. Neither of them wanted to get sucked into a conversation with Marluxia. It seemed that Naminé liked talking to him for some reason. They couldn't comprehend it.

Demyx and Larxene arrived shortly afterward. Larxene immediately went to mingle with Marluxia and Naminé while Demyx sat on the other side of Roxas. He gave a distracted hello to Zexion and Roxas, but he was too busy looking around to hear their returned greetings.

'_Axel, Axel, Axel._' Demyx's forehead chanted.

"Where's Axel?" Zexion wondered after a while. "The two of you have fourth period together."

'_Axel, Axel, Axel._'

Zexion threw a book at Demyx's head after he didn't receive a response.

'_Axel, Axel, Axel._' Demyx paused in his searching to look at Zexion, who had picked the book up and thrown it at the dirty blond harder this time. "What?" He sounded dazed.

"Axel; where is he?" the bluenette repeated.

"He had to stay after class a bit to talk to the teacher. He told me to go ahead without him, so he probably knew it would take a while," Demyx explained, still sounding distracted as he resumed searching the cafeteria, presumably for Axel.

"Or maybe he just didn't want you to hear what was being said," Roxas offered.

'_Axel, Axel, Axel._' Demyx didn't respond.

Finally, a flash of red caught Roxas' eye as he and Zexion split his sandwich since Roxas had forgotten to pack a lunch since he'd stayed at Zexion's house. He looked over to see that Axel was making his way over to them, his trademark smug grin on his face as he went. Roxas couldn't help but notice that when Axel walked, he walked with purpose in his stride. His somewhat girlish hips swung from side to side very concisely and he didn't bounce much as he walked.

"Hey, cuties, did you miss me?" Axel wondered.

"No," Zexion and I replied simultaneously.

Axel tried to sit down in front of Roxas and Zexion, but Demyx quickly tackled him and held him down. "What the fuck?" the redhead demanded as he tried to shove Demyx off of him. "Demyx, what the fuck is wrong with you?"

"Nothing!" the sandy blond cried, maneuvering Axel so that he was next to him instead of in front of Zexion and Roxas. Then he quickly pushed Roxas into Zexion. Then, realizing that Roxas couldn't move with Zexion in the way, he hastily leaned over, grabbed Zexion by the arm, and dragged him over Roxas' lap so that Zexion was between him and Roxas.

Zexion punched Demyx in the face, causing him to drop his arm while he was in Roxas' lap. He huffed and went to sit back where he originally was, only to be stopped when Demyx grabbed him by the shoulders and continued to pull him so that he was in his desired position.

"There!" he cried triumphantly.

Zexion and Axel glared daggers at him. "What the fuck was that about?" Axel demanded.

Demyx didn't reply. He was too busy whining "Ow, ow, ow, ow" and holding his face in his hands to pay them attention.

"Demyx!" Axel roared in his ears.

Demyx let out a terrified squeak and wriggled away from him and into Zexion.

Of course, this didn't sit well with the bluenette, so he punched Demyx in the ribs, making him cry out in pain. Zexion rolled his eyes when Demyx began to whimper loudly and bury his face into his attacker's shoulder, looking for security.

Roxas was just dumbfounded by all of this. He was as confused as everyone else.

"Sora paid me to keep you away from Roxas," Demyx sobbed, clutching at Zexion's shirt and burying his face into his neck.

"Me or Zexion?" Axel wondered.

"You!" Demyx howled.

"What, when did he do that?" Roxas demanded. He was immediately on red alert. If it had happened yesterday at swim, then there was just a misunderstanding.

"Today, during third period," he sniffled. When he tried to rub his nose against Zexion, the bluenette roughly shoved him away.

"Stop being so dramatic, I didn't even hit you that hard!" Zexion growled, though his face was pink. Clearly, he enjoyed being the shoulder Demyx cried on.

Demyx nodded with a pout and began to rub at his leaking eyes.

Anger overwhelmed Roxas almost instantly. "I'm going to kill him. I'll skin him alive, fry it up, and serve it to him sprinkled with fucking parsley." He whipped out his cell phone, but Demyx stopped him, reaching over Zexion to retrieve the device, which resulted in Zexion hurting him again, more softly this time.

"I wasn't supposed to tell you!" Demyx cried and buried his face in his hands.

"Aw, poor guy! Come here, Dem Dem," Axel crooned, pulling the dirty blond into his arms and snuggling him. "It'll be okay. Just think about it this way: Zexy can't keep his hands off you 'cause you're so sexy all the time."

"Okay," Demyx said with a sniffle.

"Better?" Axel wondered.

Zexion and Roxas exchanged partially disgusted glances at how motherly Axel sounded.

"A little bit," Demyx admitted, wiping his eyes some more. He offered the redhead a small smile, earning a hair-ruffling from Axel. "Hey!" His mood immediately changed. "Watch the hair!" His tears were gone instantly.

Axel burst out laughing. "Oh, _sorry_!" With that, he set about messing up Demyx's hair, much to his chagrin.

"Seriously, Ax, quit it!" Demyx whined as he tried desperately to get away from the redhead.

It was then that Roxas realized Demyx was a lot like Sora. He gave a horrified shudder. One Sora was bad enough. He simply couldn't handle two. Then a thought crossed his mind. Zexion had said that Demyx was Naminé's older brother. He wondered why Demyx had a class with Sora in that case because he should've been a junior, not a sophomore. "So, Demyx, you have a class with Sora?" he wondered.

"Two, actually, if you count swim. We have geometry together!" Demyx explained happily. "I failed last year so I had to take it again for the credits… It's stupid!"

"Demyx, you're taking algebra, not geometry," Zexion stated in an irritated voice.

Demyx gave the bluenette a strange look. "That's probably why I'm failing again this year. I've been using a geometry book… Oops!" he began laughing. It was clear he'd only been pretending to cry moments ago.

Roxas was a bit in awe of the boy. Tears had been rolling down his cheeks. Now they'd quickly dried up. He didn't know how many people could just cry on command even if they weren't sad or in pain.

* * *

><p>Roxas decided to head home with Zexion a little later than normal so that they could take their time going to their lockers. They usually hurried quite a bit so that they could avoid Seifer or anyone as dangerous, but they weren't as worried about that since they were together. Safety in numbers and all that.<p>

The two of them were talking about Sora's unnatural hatred for Axel. To go so far as to pay Demyx off to keep him away from Roxas.

"Axel must have done something to piss him off really badly," Roxas concluded.

"Yes, but the question is what exactly did he do? Axel isn't necessarily a bad guy, and while he may have a very brash, flamboyant personality, he knows the limits he can and cannot cross with most people. Sora is as easy to read as a book, so it would be clear to Axel when he crossed a line. Despite his jerkish exterior, Axel wouldn't normally push people past their limits," Zexion explained.

"That right there could be the problem," Roxas pointed out, "not the part about Axel being virtuous or whatever, but the fact that Sora is so open about his feelings. I couldn't count how many times a day I poke fun at Sora just because I know he'll react."

Zexion didn't seem as convinced. "I'm not sure that Sora could hate Axel for something as harmless as that. My point isn't that Axel is virtuous, but he's not serious about bothering _anyone_. He would have had to do something fairly hurtful for Sora to dislike him enough to pay Demyx enough to keep him away from you."

"Is Demyx greedy or something?" Roxas wondered.

The bluenette shook his head. "No, not at all. My reason for saying he would need to be paid a lot is because Demyx is a pacifist and he hates confrontations of any kind. Especially to have to confront his best friend like that."

"Huh," Roxas hummed with a shrug.

"Has Sora mentioned anything Axel did bad enough to make him so angry?" Zexion inquired.

"Nope, if he did, then we wouldn't be having this discussion," Roxas pointed out. It was really very odd. Sora's forehead had never said anything he hadn't told Roxas about Axel. He decided he should ask again when they talked. He still had to address his twin about sending Demyx after Axel in the first place.

* * *

><p>At dinner that night, Roxas still hadn't mentioned anything to Sora about his wrongdoings. The brunet's forehead did keep coming back to whether or not Demyx had held up his end of the bargain. Roxas really wanted to make Sora pay before he talked to him about it, though, especially since he was acting as if nothing had happened. The perfect idea to torture Sora came to mind and he couldn't help but give an evil smirk.<p>

"Hey, Mom, Dad," Roxas said suddenly, interrupting whatever Sora was ranting about.

Curious as to why Roxas had spoken up, they responded with questions of "Yes?" (It had already been cleared up that Roxas and Sora had made amends, so they probably weren't expecting what was to come).

"Guess what Sora said today," he began, shooting his twin a smug grin.

Sora immediately caught on. He sent his twin a murderous glare. "Roxas, no. Don't you dare!" His eyes narrowed as if to make himself more intimidating. Too bad for Sora, he looked about as intimidating as a sleeping puppy.

Appalled at Sora's reaction, Tifa asked, "What did he say?"

"Nothing, Mommy!" Sora assured her less than confidently.

"Well, actually it was pretty horrible..." Roxas said with a few slight bobs of his head as if he felt sheepish.

"Roxas!" Sora hissed.

"Sora said the ass word. Actually, he screamed it for the whole school to hear."

To Roxas, Sora immediately hissed, "You are _dead_ to me, Roxas Strife!" To their parents, he immediately began to apologize and ask for their forgiveness. "I promise it was an accident and it won't happen again! I'm soooooo sorry!"

Tifa and Cloud gave him strange looks before snorting and then breaking out into laughter. It was obvious that they didn't care about Sora's swearing. Sora, however, didn't read it as benign.

"Stop laughing, it's not funny!" he cried as his face reddened in embarrassment and anger. "I'm the good child so you should expect me to be the one who never cusses and the one who gets the most-"

"Shit?" Roxas suggested.

"_Stuff_! In your will!" Sora corrected him angrily. He growled frustratedly and exploded out of his seat. He began to slowly stalk to Roxas' side of the table, giving the blond plenty of time to get out of his seat and run to the other side of the table. Sora was chasing him soon enough and he knew he would be caught eventually.

Luckily for Roxas, the doorbell rang, so he ran to answer it, hoping that Sora would be kind at least until the guest left. "I'll get it!" he called even though he was already in the hallway.

He flung open the front door to find Zexion there with some clothes in his hands.

"Hey, Zexion, what's up?" Roxas asked through his shallow breathing. He could feel Sora's eyes boring into him as he spoke to his friend.

The bluenette didn't say anything about his exhausted state. Instead, he handed Roxas the clothing in his hands. "You left these at my house this morning. I washed them for you." They were Roxas' sleeping clothes.

"Well thanks, Zexy, now you should leave 'cause I'm about to become an only child!" Sora butted in, coiling an arm around Roxas. He sank his teeth into Roxas' neck like he was a vampire.

"Ah, fuck! Get off, Sora!" Roxas elbowed his brother in the chest as hard as he could.

"Well it appears that you two are busy. I will see you tomorrow, Roxas." And with that, Zexion was gone.

The minute the door was closed, Sora grabbed the clothing from Roxas' hands so that he could throw them on the ground. Then he grabbed Roxas and continued to bite at his neck.

"Sora, stop it!" Roxas protested, elbowing his brother in the stomach this time. It was to no avail, however.

"Never!" Sora shouted back before he continued to sink his teeth into his twin's poor neck.

Roxas scrambled to get them back into the kitchen. "Mom, Dad! Your son is assaulting me with his mouth!" he cried out as he struggled against Sora. "Just the way you assaulted Axel when you called him an asshole!"

Sora gave a wordless cry and then continued to bite and suck at Roxas' neck. Their parents were too busy laughing to do anything. Such caring parents, really.

* * *

><p>The next morning found Roxas with a stuffy nose from sleeping with his face buried into his pillow. He and Sora set about getting dressed when Sora gave a shriek and stomped over to Roxas.<p>

"What, Sora? It's too early to deal with you..." Roxas yawned as if to prove his point.

"Where did you get _these_?" he demanded in a low hiss, pointing to Roxas' neck.

Roxas sighed. "What are you talking about?"

Sora dragged him over to their mirror as a response, and Roxas' heart dropped to his stomach when he saw that his neck was covered in hickeys. There were two on one side and three on the other, as well as teeth marks.

"Fuck!" Roxas exclaimed as his hand instantly flew to his neck. He realized his mistake when he touched one and it hurt like hell. "_You_ did this, smart one!" he shouted at Sora. It was then that he remembered that he was supposed to tell Sora off for paying Demyx to keep Axel away from him. He'd yell at his twin later. He had to deal with this situation first (it was more important, anyway).

"Shoot, Rox, I'm so sorry!" Sora apologized. "I didn't know you could get hickeys from that!"

Unfortunately, the blond wasn't accepting any apologies this morning. "How the fuck do you think you get hickeys?" He gently ran his fingers over the marks and found that they made his skin soft and gooey like a bruise. Hickeys technically _are_ bruises, but who cares about the details?

"The hickey fairy?" Sora offered in an attempt to lift the mood and resolve some of Roxas' anger. When Roxas just glared at him, Sora continued talking. "Well, we could just use Mom's makeup again and cover it up! No problem!"

"Did you forget how angry she was when we used her makeup last time to cover the bruises after I got beaten up? Fuck no! She'll blame me!" Roxas rejected the idea.

Sora stood there in thought for a moment. "Hmm, here! This!" He bent down and picked up a pair of Sora's pajama pants. In response to Roxas' angry, blank look, he added, "Wear it like a scarf! I mean, we don't have any actual scarves or turtle necks or anything since we lived in Destiny Islands and all, but it could work! Just don't wear the crotch in the front. And tuck the waistband into your shirt."

With a roll of his eyes and a sigh, Roxas took the pants from Sora. "It's better than nothing, I guess... Now come on and get ready or else we'll be late."

When Zexion came a-knocking, Roxas couldn't have been more excited to leave Sora behind. He loved his twin, he really did, but he was sort of a pain to deal with sometimes.

They were out of their neighborhood by the time Zexion spoke up. "So why exactly are you wearing pajama pants around your neck?" Zexion wondered, tugging at the flexible cotton.

Roxas let out a sigh as they walked down the street. "Is it really that obvious?" he grumbled.

The bluenette shook his head. "No, actually. It took me until now to realize exactly what they were. Care to explain?"

"Long story short, Sora is a fucking vampire..." the blond summed up. It was sort of embarrassing and weird to say that his twin brother had given him several hickeys.

"Ah, I see. That is certainly unfortunate. I wonder what the others will say when they see you all marked up. Marluxia and Larxene would probably laugh at first. Demyx would probably be more confused than anything, Naminé will probably be curious about them, and Axel would probably be the same as Naminé. After you explain it was Sora, everyone will probably laugh."

"Shit, I forgot about everyone else! I don't want them to laugh at me! Axel is already convinced Sora and I have an incestuous relationship! This will just bring it to a whole new level! This is gonna be so awkward!" Roxas whined.

Zexion grinned at Roxas. "Well maybe you should remember that the next time you consider letting Sora have his way with you."

"That sounds terrible and disgusting!" the blond whined.

"I have a question for you, Roxas. And maybe this is a little out there and personal, but I would really appreciate it if you answered it. I'm bringing this up now because it's a similar subject," the bluenette informed him.

"Oh, _God_," Roxas groaned. "Go ahead, I guess."

"For thousands of years, there have been myths about twins and secret connections they may have shared together while in their mothers' uterus that carried out through their birth and into their lives. In fact, it was accepted and often expected that a fraternal male and female twin marry each other because it was assumed that they had already fornicated in the uterus," Zexion explained. His one visible pupil grew the size of a watermelon, and it was clear that he absolutely loved the subject of twins. The fact that Roxas was a twin also contributed to Zexion thinking he was really cool.

Roxas already knew this information. Being a twin, of _course_ he was curious about twins in general. He couldn't even begin to count the many books he'd read about studies of twins identical and fraternal. Sometimes he wished that he and Sora were identical twins because that was where the myths of a telepathic connection lay.

"Why are you telling me all this?" Roxas asked. He didn't want to rain on Zexion's parade by saying he already knew about all this.

"Well, I heard this rumor and I was wondering if you could dispel it. Obviously this is not 100% across the board, but I was very curious to hear if it happened with you and Sora. This is the perfect opportunity."

"Just spit it out already, Zexion."

"Well, uhm, that is... er... Did you and Sora kiss when you were younger?" he finally managed to sputter.

Roxas couldn't help but stare at Zexion with a strange expression on his face. It wasn't everyday that people asked if he and Sora had ever kissed. It _had_ come up once during a truth or dare session, but it was not a common thing by any means. "Um..." Roxas didn't really know what to say.

"It's okay, I realize it's a bit strange and taboo, I apologize. Especially since you both are heterosexual. I simply couldn't help myself when confronted with this opportunity... I truly am shameful... letting my pursuit of knowledge drive me to ask such a thing!"

"It's alright, it's okay, I forgive you!" Roxas assured him. He put a hand on his friend's shoulder to stop him on his tirade. "And I'll do you one better than just forgive you. I'll answer your question."

The two of them had reached the school by this point, but neither of them noticed. They were too enraptured in the conversation to notice their surroundings.

"Really, you will?" Zexion asked with a bewildered look on his face.

Roxas nodded. "Yeah... Sora and I did used to kiss. We thought it was how people told each other that they loved them... That wasn't exactly wrong, but we didn't realize that it was a different kind of love. Our parents did it and we wanted to show our love like them. So we kissed a lot... I don't remember when we stopped, we just sort of did before we ever even went off to kindergarten."

Zexion's slate eye was wide open. "Fascinating..." he muttered.

"Look, I doubt it has to do with the fact that we're twins. I think it's more that we were just stupid and childish and we didn't know better," Roxas tried to assure him.

"So," Zexion swallowed as if he was nervous, "do you ever get the urge to kiss him now?"

"Does Roxy ever get the urge to kiss who? Sounded like you were talking about a boy!" Demyx's voice suddenly broke the two of them out of the spell they'd cast upon themselves. Roxas and Zexion were now at the vending machines in the lounge. They didn't realize that they'd already gone to their lockers.

"No one, it doesn't matter. It was a girl anyway. I'm straight, so yeah. No meat for me, I like peaches just fine," Roxas assured him. He didn't want to become a freak in this new group right away just because of his sexuality. He thought women were beautiful creatures. They were able to make new life for Christ's sake. Still, he would never want to put his manly bits into one of them.

Demyx just shrugged and returned to playing the ukulele in his hands that Roxas hadn't noticed before. He wasn't playing any particular song, just messing around.

Roxas couldn't help but stare at the sandy blond as he played. Demyx was certainly very attractive. Plus, he totally dug musicians. He did feel a little bad for staring at the man of Zexion's dreams, but he decided then that he wouldn't mind dating Demyx. Weird.

"Any requests, Roxy?" Demyx said, effectively breaking Roxas out of his silent musings.

"Huh?" Roxas very intelligently asked.

'_Teehee, I caught Roxas checking me out! Can you say denial, O Closeted One_?' "Requests; you got one?" Demyx repeated with a grin.

Roxas couldn't believe he'd already so foolishly outed himself. He needed to think of an excuse for being caught staring at Demyx like that. An idea came to him and he instantly blurted out, "Sorry, didn't mean to space on you, I was just thinking about how much you look like Naminé. I sort of have this HUGE crush on her, so yeah..." Roxas made sure to think of the hickeys on his neck to ensure that his whole face flushed red.

'_Shit, my gay-dar is faulty…_'

Roxas almost sighed in relief, but he made sure not to. "Do you know the song Trouble?" he wondered, planning to keep up this lovesick façade.

"By who?" Demyx wondered.

"Never Shout Never," he easily replied.

"_You_ like NSN?" the sandy blond asked incredulously.

Roxas just shrugged. "Not really, but Sora does. He listens to that guy all the time. I'm sort of in that mood right now, so why not?" In reality, Roxas sort of had a thing for Christofer Drew Ingle, but it was his very secret guilty pleasure. There had been many occasions where he would jack off to NSN and hold out so that he could ejaculate when Chris sang in a falsetto. Yeah, it was that bad.

With a shrug and a smile, Demyx began to play. Unbeknownst to Roxas, Demyx actually sang as well. So, when he sang "_I'm in trouble, I'm an addict_," Roxas died and went to heaven. He began to salivate, and he couldn't help but stare at the way Demyx's nose crinkled up as he sang away.

Roxas and Zexion happily listened to Demyx strum away on his ukulele, though Zexion was nowhere near as elated as Roxas was on the inside. It was probably at that point Roxas decided to obsess over Demyx secretly as well. What Zexion didn't know wouldn't hurt him.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **So a lot of stuff happened in this chapter. I decided to take a road less traveled, actually one I've never seen traveled, in which Roxas actually develops a crush on someone other than Axel at first…

Any thoughts on that? If you're worried, then don't! This is an AkuRoku story, I promise! We will get there eventually, folks, and I certainly hope you will join me for the ride =)

Roxas seems a little different to me than in the previous chapters, but I have this feeling that I know him better now. Also, yes, he is a closet Never Shout Never fan xD

If you enjoyed this chapter, please leave a review or alert and fave! I really enjoy hearing all of your feedback. 'Tis like Christmas. Or Hanukkah. Or Kwanza. Or whatever it is you celebrate that involves gifts.


	7. I Think He Likes BDSM

**A/N: **Hey, you! It's good to see you again. Did you have a nice week? I did. I went to Florida for a week, which is the reason this didn't go up sooner. But it's here now, so do not fret. Stuff happens in this chapter, and I'm not sure if I'm exactly happy with it… Anyway, I hope you enjoy it~

Thank you everyone who reviewed or alerted or faved my story! I really do appreciate it~ It lets me know you care.

Kingdom Hearts © Disney and Enix

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><p>No one else showed up at the vending machine that morning, which made Roxas breathe a sigh of relief. Not that Demyx was stupid, but he wasn't detail-oriented like Zexion, so he didn't even have a chance at realizing that Roxas was wearing Sora's pajama pants around his neck. He went and looked in a bathroom mirror, and it actually really did look like a scarf. It was darker colored, and the pattern on it was plaid, so it looked like a scarf even in that sense. Still, he had a feeling that some people would notice it. His hair wasn't long enough to cover the fact that the waistband was tucked into his shirt. It looked very strange.<p>

At nutrition break, Sora kept asking him about the hickeys and tried to whisper as best as he could since Riku was standing right there. He asked to see them, if they'd gone away at all, but Roxas refused to remove the pajamas. It was too risky to expose them now. Plus, they wouldn't be gone just like that. Hickeys took at least a few days to go away. Sora was adamant about seeing them, but backed down when Roxas threatened to give him a couple hickeys of his own.

Riku just looked confused standing there, but he didn't say anything. He was still very wary around Roxas, which bothered him somewhat. Roxas knew he wasn't a rapist or a murderer or anything, so the fact that he was still so worried bothered him. It made it seem like he _did_ have something to hide. The thought sort of scared him since Sora was around him so often. Especially since they were with each other with only Speedos on at the end of the day. The blond decided that if he kept acting so strangely after their first month at RGUHS, he would say something.

Before Roxas knew it, it was lunch time. Dread mounted in his stomach as he hobbled over to his locker. The dread made him feel a bit nauseous, and he feared moving too quickly. He was taking so long that Zexion was waiting at his locker by the time he got there. The blond was glad he wouldn't have to walk there alone, at least.

"Hey, Zexion," he greeted.

"Hello, Roxas. I grew a little worried when I went to my locker and you weren't there. I am glad I decided to meet you at your locker instead," Zexion explained. "Is everything alright? You appear a little paler than usual."

Roxas gave a shrug. "I'm alright, I guess. Just really, really nervous about what will happen when we get to the lounge. I can already tell that Axel, Marluxia, and Larxene won't let this go easily. I'm gonna get all hell for this, I just know it." He retrieved his books as slowly as humanly possible, trying to put off the inevitable.

Zexion just watched him closely. '_Poor soul_.' "Well, do try to cheer up a bit. If you continue to act as you are, they will suspect something more quickly. Plus, this worry doesn't suit your demeanor. It is a little unnerving because you are usually so confident."

"Well, thanks for the tip, I guess," he responded. "Alright, I'll try to act normally. Let's go. There's no point in procrastinating." With that, he and Zexion hurried along down the hall to the lounge. They were later getting there than usual, which was already a little out of place.

Unfortunately for Roxas, everyone was already there when he and Zexion arrived. His heart dropped to his stomach and he began to breathe heavily. Instead of sitting next to Axel and Naminé like he'd been doing, he sat with Zexion and Demyx. Demyx would never figure it out and Zexion already knew. It was the perfect set-up. However, Roxas forgot that Naminé and Axel enjoyed his company, so they came to sit with him.

"Hey, Roxas," Naminé greeted with her usual cheerfulness.

"Hiya, Roxy," Axel greeted as he flashed the blond that grin of his. They sat down together and immediately started talking with each other and everyone else. Roxas tried to make his responses scarce, and everything seemed to be going well.

Before Roxas even knew it, half of lunch was over. Now he just had to continue to try not to bring any special attention to himself for the next 15 minutes or so. The universe had other plans for the blond. Of course he could make it halfway. The stars above liked to give him hope and then obliterate them all.

Out of nowhere, Axel rested his hand on the blond's shoulders. He smirked as he thumbed at the pajama pants around Roxas' neck. "So, Blondie, what are you hiding under here, hmm?" he wondered.

The color drained from Roxas' face, but there wasn't much he could do without it seeming suspicious. "Nothing, I've just been a little cold all day. I think I'm getting sick or something," he lied as naturally as he could.

"Oh, really? 'Cause you don't seem like a plaid scarf kinda guy." Axel clearly knew something was up. Roxas hadn't given anything away, and the pants really did look believable. He had no idea how this redheaded demon could have picked something up on his own.

"Well, maybe I'm not, but we don't have any other scarves or else…-" Roxas was interrupted when Axel yanked off the article of clothing. Everyone in the group (except Zexion) stared in shock at Roxas' neck. Demyx gasped rather loudly, Larxene and Marluxia broke out laughing, Naminé stared at him with confusion apparent on her face, and Roxas buried his face into his hands as if that could help the situation.

"Roxy, I'm _shocked_!" Marluxia exclaimed through his roaring laughter. Tears of glee made his eyes glitter. Larxene had a very similar expression on her face.

"But, Roxy, who?" Demyx cried. "Why would you let someone do that to you? You can always say 'no!'"

"Yeah, Rox, who's the lucky lady and slash or man?" Axel wondered. He actually said 'and slash or.' What a tool. His forehead actually said, '_Who the fuck is so lucky?_' as if he was jealous. It was a strange thought because it sounded almost like the redhead had a crush on him. Roxas shuddered.

"Look, it's no big deal! And why is there doubt about it being a girl or not?" he huffed. He didn't want to tell them it had been Sora.

"Well was it a girl or wasn't it?" Naminé wondered. She was finally broken out of the stunned silence she'd been in. There was still a confused look on her face.

"Well, not exactly, but…-"

"Not exactly!" Demyx echoed. "Was it a girl or wasn't it?"

"Look, it was Sora, so it doesn't count, alright?" Roxas practically shouted. Revealing it was Sora was better than letting them all seriously question his sexuality.

Axel seemed to give a small sigh—a sigh of relief?—before slapping that shit-eating grin back on his face. "Aw, man! I missed some hot twincest action? Well, fuck man, that sucks!"

"It wasn't 'action!'" Roxas retorted. "He was just punishing me!"

A collective 'ooooh' went throughout everyone.

"No, no! Not like that! Sora cussed and threatened to hurt me, and I made him upset so he attacked me and punished me and I tried to get him to stop, but it's best to let Sora have his way because he screams and cries otherwise!" Roxas hastily explained, not really thinking about his words very carefully. He just blurted them out like that time on Family Feud when a toss up is going on and the category is 'things you pass around' and the first thing the guy immediately says is 'a joint.'

Everyone began laughing, and if they were already laughing, they began laughing harder. Even Zexion was laughing. It took Roxas a moment to realize how suggestive his explanation had been.

"No, it's not like that!" he cried out desperately. He knew this wouldn't change anything, but he couldn't help but blurt it out anyway.

"Wow, Roxy, BDSM? I never pegged you for a masochist," Axel teased.

"If you're looking for a real man to torture you, you can come my way, Roxy," Marluxia offered with a wink. "I have no problems with spitting on you or jizzing all over you."

"Fuck no!" Roxas spat.

The laughing and teasing continued and Roxas wanted to die.

"Come here, Roxy, it'll be okay. I'll protect you from the mean big kids." Axel wrapped an arm around the blond and pulled Roxas into his chest.

Roxas accepted the comfort, digging his face into the redhead's barely existent pectoral. One thing he noticed immediately about Axel was how warm he was. It was like he was a tall, human-shaped furnace that could speak. Another thing that caught Roxas' attention was Axel's scent. It was of cinnamon and ash and its spiciness made Roxas' nose twitch and he almost sneezed. Truthfully it was a bit overwhelming.

That was definitely the moment Roxas and Axel's friendship began to sprout and grow rapidly like weeds, except more delightful.

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><p>The next Saturday, not the following one, but the one after that, Roxas awoke to his brother shaking him awake and calling his name frantically. Roxas, being the morning-hater he was, slapped at his twin's hand and rolled away from him. Dealing with Sora was not on his to-do list for this morning. It would've been nice if it was never on his to-do list.<p>

"Roxas! You gotta get up!" Sora cried as he shook his twin some more.

"No," the blond groaned, "go awaaaay."

Sora huffed out and irritated sigh. "Come on, we're going to be late! Get uuuup!"

Roxas didn't remember making plans with Sora this weekend, so he decided that he really hadn't and resumed trying to sleep. He heard Sora leave the room, and he grinned triumphantly before snuggling deeper into his warm, comfy bed. Sadly for him, Sora came back and the blond was doused with cold water.

"Fuck!" he screamed as he rolled off the side of the bed and onto the floor in shock. He got a glimpse of the bucket in Sora's hand as the dizziness from hitting his head subsided. He set a very venomous glare on his twin as he struggled to get to his feet without slipping and falling.

"Now, Roxas…" Sora said cautiously as he backed away with his hands up as if that could stop his positively fuming twin. Then he bolted out the door just as Roxas lunged at him.

Roxas slipped and stumbled when he first started running after the brunet. He rammed his right shoulder into the doorframe, but ignored the shooting pain as he chased Sora into their parents' room. "Sora, I will murder you!" he screamed.

The blond found Sora hiding behind their mother in the master bathroom, and Roxas almost ran into them.

"Roxas, stop chasing your brother and get dressed," Tifa commanded, not letting him get remotely close to the brunet.

"But why?" he whined. He felt positively miserable standing there dripping wet at 8AM on a Saturday morning while his mother treated him like shit, the way she typically did.

"Your brother's swim barbeque is today, and you're going," she explained as she crossed her arms. She meant business. "Now go! You're dripping all over the floor! What if somepony slips and falls?"

As Roxas left the room in grumbles, feeling positively dejected, he saw his mother kissing Sora's cheek and running a hand through the brunet's hair. A pang went through his heart and his frustration was quickly gone. Sadness settled in the pit of his stomach as he wished that his mother loved him and treated him the way she did with Sora. He waved the thought away the way he always did. There was no use crying over spilt milk, after all.

Roxas dressed after quickly drying off. He left his hair as a tangled, damp mess. He was lazy, so sue him. When he headed downstairs, he found his father sprawled out on the couch. It looked like this was going to be a family event. He took a seat on top of Cloud's back as they waited for Tifa and Sora to finish getting ready. They always took forever.

"You're too scrawny," Cloud said to his son in response to the minimal weight on his back.

"Couldn't gain muscle or fat if I tried," Roxas replied, making Cloud chuckle in agreement. He lay down on top of his father so that they were back to back. Cloud was much taller than Roxas, though, so instead of being butt to butt, Roxas' butt was pressing against his father's back and Cloud's butt was under Roxas' thighs. Cloud didn't protest, but he wriggled a little when Roxas' shoes dug into his legs as he was lying down.

"You know, I'm actually a little glad that you don't play a sport," the older blond remarked. It appeared that they were going to have the closest thing to a heart-to-heart possible for them without some traumatic event being involved.

"That's not what most fathers tell their sons," Roxas mused.

"Nope, not really. It's better this way." Cloud gave a sigh. "If you played sports and you were bad, I would be getting up early to watch other kids play the game while you sit on the bench. Other parents are also irritating to deal with. Some feel the need to brag all about their kid even though you simply don't want to hear it. You aren't all that athletic, and I'm glad you haven't felt pressured by me or anyone to join a sport you would probably hate."

Roxas couldn't help but smile at his father's words. He wasn't just talking about sports. When they had little chats like this one, double meanings were also involved that Roxas understood and had practice distinguishing thanks to his ability. His father was saying that he was proud of Roxas, who he was, and how he was coming along. He accepted Roxas. It made him feel all the more guilty for hiding his sexuality from him. But his mother already disliked him enough; he wouldn't be able to deal with it if his father hated him, too. Cloud was the only reason Roxas hadn't fallen deep into depression as a result of his mother's coldness towards him.

"Thanks," he said simply. He rolled over onto his stomach and wrapped his arms around his father, burying his head into his taller blond spikes. He started giggling like a little kid. "We're spooning."

Cloud turned his head slightly so that he could grin at his son.

Such precious moments.

Of course, it _had_ to be interrupted by Sora running loudly down the stairs. He was pretty much hysterical. "Oh my gosh, we're gonna be so late! Oh gosh, oh gosh!" he was squealing as he ran around the living room in search of something.

Roxas and Cloud both sat up straight next to each other. They straightened out their clothes to get rid of the evidence that they'd been so affectionate with one another. "What time does it start?" Roxas asked as his twin lifted his legs so that he could peer under the couch right where he was sitting.

"It starts at 9 and it's already 8:40! And I can't find my other shoe! Gaaah!" he went to look under Cloud's legs this time.

"You're screwed," Roxas said with a grin. Sweet payback. Thank you, universe.

Sora got up from the floor with a huff and put his hands on his hips in a very "manly" fashion. "You shush up! Coach doesn't start speaking until 9:45 and we don't get food til 9:40."

"Then why are we going so early?" Cloud wondered.

"Because! I just wanted to hang out with my swim friends for awhile. Roxy, Demyx is gonna be there, so you won't be totally without friends," he added, as if that could make the whole situation better. It worked.

"That's cool. Tell me when we're leaving, I gotta go to the bathroom." With that, Roxas hurried up the stairs and into his and Sora's shared bathroom. He was lying about having to do business. He really just wanted to fix up his hair and make himself look slightly better so that he could look acceptable while speaking with Demyx. Hope bubbled up in his stomach and he grew very excited.

As he brushed his hair through, he thought of all the scenarios of Demyx and him running off to have sex in a janitor's closet and then eloping out of the country until they were legal and could defend their marriage in a court of law. His favorite being that Demyx would lightly brush his ass when they were walking to get food. And then later, he would grab the blond's hand and stare deeply into his eyes and practically whisper, 'Let's get out of here.' From there, they would proceed to the janitor's closet, but get too excited, and then Demyx would fuck him against the door on the outside. They would elope to Atlantica and adopt a merchild that they would raise and love. Then they would move back to Radient Garden when they had a marriage certificate in their hands and settle down and Demyx would be a famous rockstar and Roxas a stay-at-home wife tending to the children and his shopping needs. He wasn't particularly fond of shopping, but he could definitely get into it if he tried.

Roxas' smile split his face in two as he put the finishing touches on his spiky hair. It looked nice, attractive even. He spent the next few minutes admiring his work in the mirror until Sora came knocking wildly on the door and telling him that they had to go now. Roxas left the bathroom with his grin still on his face. Ah, yes, this would be fun and his fantasy would totally come true. Really, it would.

* * *

><p>They arrived at the barbeque at around 9:15, which made Sora very happy. It looked a little ghetto to Roxas, since it was in the student parking lot on the side of the school. It sort of surprised him because he thought it would be inside at the cafeteria or something. There were already a lot of people there, Riku standing out the most because of his silver hair and the way he approached their family's car with a smile on his face before they'd even parked.<p>

"Hey, Riku!" Sora said as he quickly hopped out of the car, tripping over himself a little. Luckily for him, Riku caught him by the shoulders and steadied him. It made Sora's face burst into flames, which was interesting to see.

"Hey, Squirt," Riku returned.

Cloud and Tifa were out of the car, continuing the small argument they were having. When they noticed Riku talking to Sora, they watched the two curiously. Riku saw them quickly and the two parents looked surprised when he smiled and introduced himself very cordially.

"Hello, Mr. and Mrs. Strife, my name is Riku. I'm on the swim team with Sora." He extended a hand out to Tifa first, and then to Cloud after they shook hands.

"It's nice to meet a friend of Sora's," Cloud said, but it sound very robotic. '_I don't want to be here meeting all of Sora's damn friends…_'

"Yes, it really is!" Tifa said, sounding more natural and enthusiastic. "You're welcome at our house anytime. A friend of Sora's is always welcome." She smiled charismatically, and it surprised Roxas that she wasn't being fake.

"Well, thank you, I appreciate the offer," Riku replied with a smile.

Roxas tuned out at that point. He couldn't care less about Riku meeting his parents. He was much more interested in seeing Demyx, so he began to search the crowd of people. Sadly, he couldn't spot the dirty blond before Sora grabbed him by the arm and hauled him off with their parents and Riku over to the white plastic tables that were set up in the parking lot. They remained standing, however, despite the presence of chairs so that Sora could introduce some more of his friends and so that the other swimmers' parents could meet the Strife parents.

Roxas already hated this day. It sucked to just stand there awkwardly shaking peoples' hands he didn't know and copping excuses as to why he didn't join the swim team, too. It was a little embarrassing to say that he didn't play any sports or do anything, especially when the reason behind it was laziness and the fact that he was something of a pussy when it came to sports or athletic activity in general. The day made a quick 180 for Roxas, however. Thanks again, universe.

Tifa and Cloud were speaking with another couple, and Sora was socializing with his own kind, and Roxas was standing there in complete boredom when suddenly, there was a flash of red out of the corner of Roxas' eye and suddenly Axel had his hands firmly squeezing Sora's ass. Sora squealed loudly and spun around. He began to shout Roxas' name since Roxas was behind him (he clearly thought it had been the blond), but when he saw that Axel was his offender, he snarled.

"What are _you_ doing here?" Sora hissed, guarding his backside.

Axel grinned at him and winked at Roxas in response to his confused yet amused expression. An arm wrapped around Roxas' neck and he quickly realized that Demyx was resting his chin on his shoulder, giggling. Roxas' breath left him as he stared at Demyx's features close up. They were so perfect to him; he almost wanted to run his hand along Demyx's soft-looking cheeks. He didn't, though, because that was a big indicator he was crushing on Demyx.

"I'm here to support my bro here. Is there something wrong with that?" Axel said, shit-eating grin firmly in place.

Tifa and Cloud's attention shifted to them and they gazed at Axel in wonder. They were probably looking at his hair and wondering how many bottles of gel and hairspray it took to maintain such a mane. "So you're the one," Cloud said in a very serious tone, as if he was sizing Axel up. '_Better not mess with my kid._'

Instead of looking at him respectfully like Riku did, Axel turned his smirk on Cloud as if he was just another kid. "So you've heard of me, have you, Papa Strife? Does Roxy say nice things about me?" '_Fuck, he's gorgeous like his son. Dammit, WHY ARE YOU SO ATTRACTIVE ROXAS' DADDY?_'

Roxas tried to ignore the words on Axel's forehead, but he couldn't help the pink color that settled over his face. People didn't call him gorgeous every day.

"Actually, Sora is the only one who's said anything about you. What is your name exactly?" Tifa joined in. Her features took on a protective, momma bear look, much like Cloud's. She was more worried about Sora, though. '_So this is the kid that terrorizes my baby._'

"My name is Axel. That's A-X-E-L. Got it memorized?" He tapped his forehead. He looked down at Roxas and asked, "Aw, why don't you ever talk about me to your folks? We've had some good times, Roxy-baby."

Roxas rolled his eyes and forced himself not to smile. Axel had this ability to make the blond smile with the dumbest of statements. It was annoying. "Because there's absolutely _nothing_ to talk about." He gave Axel his own shit-eating grin.

Demyx went 'ooooh' and started laughing, removing his head from Roxas' shoulders. "Oh! I'm Demyx, by the way. I swim with Sora, but I'm friends with Roxy, too. Right, Roxy-bear?" He introduced himself to the Strifes. He reached an arm out, but neither Tifa nor Cloud would shake with him. They were a little offended and surprised.

Laughter erupted out of Roxas. For some reason, the whole situation just made him laugh. He loved his new friends. He did. They made him smile. He only wished that Zexion was here as well.

Roxas' laughter put grins on both Demyx and Axel's faces and it was clear that they felt encouraged. "Mom, Dad, these are _my_ friends. Obnoxious, aren't they?" he said with a genuine smile. His eyes caught his father's and he nodded slightly as if trying to prove himself.

'_It figures that Roxas would make such unruly, misbehaved friends._'"Now, Roxas…-" Tifa began. She wanted to tell Roxas to think about whom he should be friends with. She wanted Roxas to be a good little boy like Sora and make polite, nice friends. She wanted him to once again ignore himself and his own feelings for his family.

"Hey, Roxas, look over there!" Demyx exclaimed, pointing some random direction.

Roxas looked the direction the dirty blond was pointing, only to realize that he was being hoisted over Axel's shoulder from behind. Then they began running away, probably scared of what Cloud might do to them.

"We're borrowing this cute little kid for a while. We'll bring him back before midnight. See ya, Pops!" Axel shouted back over his shoulder at Cloud. What Roxas didn't know was the adventure that was about to begin was going to change his days in Radient Garden forever. For the best and for the worst. It was definitely going to be one hell of a ride, though.

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><p><strong>AN: **I hope you enjoyed the chapter! I have this feeling I hyped up their adventures a little _too_ much. Especially for that one day. It's more of a snowball effect. A few small things and then poop hits the fan.

I absolutely loved writing Roxas' fantasy xD Oh, Roxy, y r u such a qt?

Okay, time for shameless self-promotion. I wrote an AkuRoku songfic a little while ago, but it has not received much love. It is based around the song Hurricane by the Hush Sound. I guess people do not enjoy the Hush Sound or hurricanes or sex-addicts. If you are interested, it is on my profile.

Jeez, whenever I write an author's note, I have nothing to say and then after the chapter is up, I always think of things I could've said Vicious cycle, it is indeed.

Anyway, if you like the chapter, please leave a review or fave or alert the story! It motivates me greatly. It makes Roxas want to have hot steamy sex with Axel. And it makes him want you to watch. Aww yeaaah.


	8. WTFBBQ! TENSION!

**A/N: **Hello, hello~! How are you? Yeah? Me too. But hopefully, this chapter will make you smile =D And we all like to smile. Yes? Yes. Good way to improve any Monday~

I'm not quite sure why, but writing this took a lot of effort. I was just uninterested in writing this chapter and I have no idea why. Some fun stuff happens =T I was more interested in drawing, I suppose. Axel's hair is the most annoying thing to draw, I swear.

I wonder if people even read my author's notes…? Personally, I only read author's notes if it's the newest chapter. I never read old author's notes if it's a story that's been going on for a while. Is that weird? Do others do this?

Anyway, thank you all for the reviews and such! I got so many this time and it just makes my heart super, duper happy~ Please enjoy the chapter!

Kingdom Hearts © Disney and Enix

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><p>Axel ended up only carrying Roxas across the parking lot to the very last table, which had Axel's backpack sitting on top of it, as if guarding the table from any intruders. He set the blond down while Demyx sat at the table. Axel followed suit after adjusting the sleeves of his maroon, long-sleeved shirt. They settled into the table.<p>

"So, those were your parents?" Demyx wondered. He was smiling his very typical, charming smile. It was a smile for no reason and since he was smiling so often, his lips were permanently turned upwards at the corners.

"Yup. Tifa and Cloud Strife. Two kids, two cars, shitty house and a very weird relationship that I could never hope to understand," Roxas replied. He didn't really feel like talking about his own parents, so instead he asked about Demyx's. "So are your parents here, Dem?"

A strange unsettled look overcame his facial features for a second. '_If my parents were here, I would seriously shit bricks._' His smile returned, but Roxas couldn't help but think it was forced. "Nope. They are currently living it up in Atlantica. They don't visit often. That's why I brought Axel! Well, he sort of followed me on his own, but aside from that, he's also like a brother to me, only we have sex sometimes. Right, baby?" Demyx asked Axel with a wink.

"You know it, babe," Axel replied, also winking. '_No, we don't, asshole. I will kill you in your sleep, bitch._' What a very strange, unexplained thought.

"How are you living here if your parents live there?" Roxas asked, quite confused. "You can't be eighteen already! I mean, you act like you're twelve!"

Axel and Demyx laughed at that.

"Well, yeah, I'm not. I'm only seventeen. But Seifer is eighteen and we're allowed to live with him. Our parents do come home for weeks at a time, but it's not like they actually live with us. It doesn't really matter, whatever, it's in the past." He swiftly changed the subject. "So, Axel, what's on the agenda for today? We can wreak some real havoc today, and they can't make me leave since I'm actually on the swim team, so I can do anything. I am invincible!"

A grin quickly unfurled on the redhead's face. It was a bit different than his normal grin. His normal grin said 'I fuck around 'cause I'm a stupid fucker,' but this one said, 'I have a plan to fuck around 'cause I'm a smart fucker.' The difference excited Roxas, and he felt that something very hilarious was about to ensue.

"Alright, today's plan is to annoy the hell out of people as well as to creep them out so badly that they go home and have nightmares while they're sleeping in their cozy, safe little beds. Sound good?" He received positive hums from both Demyx and Roxas. "Okay, men, any questions?"

Roxas raised his hand. "Yes, how are we going to do this exactly? Is there some sort of master plan, or are we just gonna wing it?" he asked once Axel nodded for him to speak.

Axel's grin widened slightly and he slipped a piece of paper out of his pocket. "That is an excellent question, Agent Rocks-ass." Roxas glared at him for that. "I have drawn our plans up. And by drawn, I mean I scribbled them down on the back of a Jehovah's Witnesses pamphlet." He unfolded the pamphlet and his messy writing was scrawled all over it in black pen. "Now, as you can see here, I have a list of ideas we could do to turn this into a real shindig, you dig?"

Demyx and Roxas tried to lean down to read Axel's writing, but he snatched the booklet away and put it back in his pocket. "You dig?" the redhead repeated. The two glanced at each other, giggling like little school girls, before they looked back at Axel and nodded.

"So, I won't give any of my plans away. Don't want to spoil the surprise, you know. Just follow my lead. And, Roxas, I know you're new to this, so Demyx and I will go through a little run-down of typical protocol. Demyx, please tell him the first rule of business." Axel gestured to Demyx in a refined way, as if Roxas was joining some exclusive country club.

"Alright, rule number one," he paused to giggle madly, "You must accept that everyone whose attention you catch will now forever think you are the strangest human being that they have ever met in their life. They will not want to talk to you again or be near you. The only exception would be anyone on the swim team. They already know I'm awesome, so they don't care."

"Numéro deux, you must whole-heartedly commit to whatever you're doing. If we turn into fucking velociraptors, you must _become_ veloci-Roxas. There is absolutely no backing out once you start," Axel explained, gesticulating very precisely to prove the importance of this rule. "No giggling unless we give the go-ahead. You'll figure out the appropriate time to laugh eventually, but for now, you're just a beginner and you should do what we tell you. If you time it just right, your laughter can make any situation a thousand times better."

After a slight pause from Axel, Demyx continued on. "Rule three, which is the last rule, although it's less of a rule and more of a direction. If you seriously aren't feeling what we're doing or you want out or whatever, the safety word is 'antiquing,' but in order for us to listen, you must scream it like bloody murder! If not, we won't give a damn."

"Dem, there is one more rule, you just forgot it," Axel said. A cheesy smile overtook his face, which looked strange, yet somehow fitting to Roxas. The redhead slapped his hands to Roxas' cheeks, cradling his face. "You must have fuuuun!" he crooned.

Roxas couldn't help but start laughing. He tore Axel's hands away, though, and bent his hands backwards the way they weren't supposed to go until the redhead squealed in pain. "I got it, I got it! Come on, I wanna fuck with some people already!" The blond was very, very excited to see how this would play out.

* * *

><p>"FUUUUCK!" Axel belted so that the word distorted to sound like 'fawk.' He grabbed up a chair and threw it down on the floor. Next to him was a group of parents with young children that all looked around the same age. They all turned their heads instantly to stare at the disturbance. They tried to put their hands over their children's ears so that they wouldn't hear the foul language spewing from the redheaded crazy. The children grew excited and shocked to hear such a dirty word.<p>

"SHIT BALLS!" Demyx roared as he stole an umbrella from one of the tables. He threw it at Axel as hard as he could. The mothers squirmed in their places, wanting to take their children away from this atmosphere, but too in shock and intrigued to look away.

Roxas watched this idly for a moment, thinking of how this could be better. It took everything he had not to break down laughing at the looks of horror on those parents' faces. He got a wonderfully naughty idea. Briefly, he looked around for his parents only to find that they were still way across the parking lot chatting it up with another couple. Feeling safe, he stepped up beside Demyx. "Fucking shit, man! I told you to have my money, you cocky son of a bitch!" Roxas screamed, pointing a very accusatory finger at Axel. He made sure that his entire frame shook with anger. He felt the color of rage filling his face.

Demyx and Axel glanced at each other for barely a second before they caught on, and the sandy blond continued. "Yeah, shit bag, where's the boss' money? You fucking said you had it! Now you gonna hand it over or do I have to break your god-awful face into itself and make a sundae with your brains?" He snatched up the umbrella that had rolled back towards him after he'd thrown it at Axel. The umbrella was quickly poised as a weapon.

The parents and the children gasped. Were they witnessing a gang-related crime? Would they need to talk to police about this? Why wasn't the coach of the swim team around to put a stop to all this nonsense?

Axel became very flustered very quickly. "Look, man, I don't have it; I'll get it to you later! Just give me a week or two. I swear, I'll have it by then!"

A howl of complete rage burst out of Roxas. "Look at me. Tell me, do I look like a fucking clown? You think I make my money by juggling or some shit like that? No! You think I just give away drugs and child pornography like candy? You think I lend out the sweet asses of my man whores to pieces of shit like you so you can get your jollies and just be on your fucking dandy way?"

Now they were not only druggies, they were also human traffickers and had possession of child pornography. Fuck yeah. The looks on the parents' and children's faces were absolutely _hilarious_. None of them could move, though, which was probably the best part. It was like they were watching a train wreck. It was a horrible, scary thing to see, but no one can just look away.

"Be cool, man! Look, I'll… I'll…" Axel fumbled with his words for a bit before he looked back up at Roxas. "Okay, here, I have a deal for you that you couldn't possibly resist," he offered in a desperate voice.

Demyx snarled and made to charge at him, but Roxas grabbed his shoulder, stopping the sandy blond. "Cool it for a sec, kid, this could be interesting," he said to Demyx. Then, licking his lips, he said to Axel, "Speak, then. What is it?"

"I'll let you fuck my sister, alright? I'll let you fuck my sister and then you can give me two weeks to come up with the cash!"

Roxas didn't respond for a moment, as if considering this proposal. "And what makes you so sure I want to fuck your sister?" he wondered cautiously.

"B-because, she's just your type! She's cute and small. Blonde hair blue eyes, petite, quiet, loves to draw, a whore and slut, takes it in the back, and you want her ass in your lap, I just know it!" Of course, Axel was describing Naminé.

Demyx did not like that one bit, and Roxas could tell his anger was real this time. He glowered at his best friend. "Fuck you, asshole!" he cried before stalking off down the parking lot. He had his hands clenched into fists at his sides as he went, and he was trembling horribly.

Roxas sent a weary glance at Axel, but he just burst out laughing and came up to Roxas, putting an arm around his shoulder. So as not to feel left out, Roxas offered a few fake chuckles, but he was more concerned with Demyx's state. The parents and children around them breathed a sigh of relief and quickly left the area to let whatever should befall Roxas and Axel, the supplier and consumer at odds.

"Axel, why did you do that?" Roxas wondered once the crowd had disappeared. "That wasn't funny. I like Naminé and she's Dem's sister!" He squirmed out of Axel's grasp, making the redhead look at him with a blank face, as if the weight of the situation hadn't quite hit him yet. Roxas rolled his eyes. "So uncool, man." Then he walked off in the direction Demyx had gone.

The sandy blond ended up being at one of the picnic tables outside of the school with his head in his hands. It looked like he was crying, and a pang went through Roxas' heart. He just wanted to give poor old Demmy-kins a hug. "Dem?" he called cautiously as he approached, like Demyx was a deer or something else as skittish.

Demyx sniffled rather loudly before looking over at Roxas. His eyes were red and puffy and tears stained his cheeks. He looked down at his arms on the table when Roxas sat down next to him. "God, I'm such a pussy…" he whimpered.

Roxas didn't say anything; he just put an arm around the object of his secret affection. He rubbed Demyx's side comfortingly.

"I just get so angry sometimes, you know? My emotions are all screwed up! When I'm angry I cry, and when I'm sad, I tend to yell, but when I'm depressed, I can't stop laughing. I feel like a girl or something…" the dirty blond continued. He rested his head on Roxas' shoulder and wiped his nose with his arm. "I never get angry like this, so people never see me cry. But I just can't be _okay_ with Axel talking about my sister like that. She's not a slut, I promise…"

A small smile sprouted on Roxas' face. Demyx was so adorable, and maybe it was bad, but his tears made him instantly excited (in his pants). Yeah, that was a bad thing. He was a terrible person. "Aw, it's okay. I cry when I'm angry, too. I'm sure lots of people do it. And I know she's not a slut. She's a very classy lady. Any man that has the honor of dating her will be getting prime meats," he said as a joke.

It worked and Demyx chuckled. "That's disgusting," he simply said.

"Yo, Dem, I'm sorry, okay? I shouldn't have talked about Nami like that." Axel's voice sounded in the direction that Roxas had just come from. He stopped once he completely turned the corner and saw the older boy searching for comfort in the younger boy. He just stared for a moment. Then he got angry. '_Fucking traitor!_' Roxas didn't know if that meant him or Demyx. "Well, whatever, I'll be back at our table when you guys are finished or whatever," he grumbled and then left.

Demyx lifted his head and retreated back to slumping over the table. He viciously wiped his eyes and nose. "Okay, okay, come on, Rox, let's go back. Axel's gonna get angrier the longer we stay here," he explained.

"What the hell? You already forgave him?" Roxas asked incredulously.

"Well, he meant no harm, and I'll be in bigger trouble if I don't forgive him. I just needed a moment to calm myself. It's alright, it's fine, let's just go," Demyx replied. '_Gosh, I wish Zexy was here_.'

Roxas was a little puzzled as to why Demyx would want Zexion here, but he didn't question it out loud. He followed Demyx back to the barbeque without a word. Maybe he and Zexion were best friends or something, or maybe he kept Axel and Demyx calmer and more civilized towards each other. That didn't make sense, though. Axel and Demyx were supposed to be best friends so they wouldn't need monitoring, and Zexion didn't even talk to Demyx, so they couldn't have been best friends.

Axel looked grumpy when they returned and he was looking over his list of things to annoy people with. It was an uncomfortable atmosphere since Demyx and Axel were both angry.

"Alright, guys, come on. Let go of the anger and let's get back to freaking people out!" Roxas said quickly, hoping to break this awful tension. "You two already broke the first two rules _and_ the last extra rule of whatever this is!"

Just then, the swim coach, Roxas presumed, stepped up to the podium at the front of all the tables. He was a stocky man that was wearing an RGUHS sports jacket, and Roxas got the impression that he always wore it along with the shorts made from the same material (but they weren't RGUHS shorts). "Can I have everyone's attention, please!" he called loudly through the microphone. His voice was strong, but it sounded strained, as if he yelled a lot regularly.

The groups of people talking all quieted down so that they could listen to the announcement. Roxas, Axel, and Demyx all looked over at him with mild interest on their faces.

"Alright, I just wanted to tell you all that the food is now ready, so feel free to grab a plate and some fuel and find a seat. I'll start speaking again in around 15 minutes and we'll get this thing underway." With that, he stepped down from the podium.

A flock of people rushed to get in line. Everyone was starving, but they were civilized enough not to use cutsies to get further in the line. No one likes a cutter. This was probably the reason that Axel, Demyx, and Roxas cut everyone to the very front of the line.

"Hey, man, thanks!" Demyx happily said as he went in front of a fellow swimmer who happened to be at the very front. The swimmer just rolled his eyes. He didn't care; he probably had to deal with this every year at the swim team's barbeque. The other people in the line weren't as uncaring. They didn't say anything, but the trio could feel the daggers being mentally thrown at them. Poor suckers.

They quickly grabbed their food and got out of line so that they could head back to their table and scarf it all down. They had plans. They couldn't just sit around eating. At the same time, though, they couldn't bother people on an empty stomach, now could they? No, they couldn't.

* * *

><p>"A… a… ACHOOOOO!" Axel sneezed loudly. He had his arm to his nose and tried to look away from everyone so that he wouldn't hit anyone with the debris flying from his face, but he made sure that he sneezed over his arm and into a lady's plate, which just so happened to be filled with food. The redhead quickly wiped his nose and mouth with his sleeve. "Oh, ma'am, I'm so <em>sorry<em>!" he apologized fervently.

The woman glared at him. She briefly looked down at her soiled plate and then back up at Axel. "God bless you," she said. But it sounded more like 'go fuck yourself.'

Demyx and Roxas looked at each other and tried not to laugh, fighting away chuckles. They ended up following suit, sneezing on various peoples' plates by 'accident.' Of course, they couldn't do this to people very close together, or else it would be obvious they were just screwing with everyone.

While Demyx was looking for someone's plate to sneeze on, he saw a smaller kid, maybe a 6th grader, sitting by himself on a curb. The opportunity was just too perfect to let it pass by. The sandy blond got up onto the sidewalk and crept up behind the young boy without alerting him to his presence. Roxas and Axel watched from further away as Demyx sprung forward and shouted 'ROOOOAR!' The boy jumped at least a foot in the air and screamed like a little girl, but Demyx ran away before he could take any blame from anyone. Axel and Roxas began laughing the hardest they'd laughed that day.

Their laughter was interrupted by the swim coach calling for their attention once more, so that he could talk to the parents as a group, answer their questions, and get the swim kids pumped for the first swim meet of the season that would take place the following Saturday. Roxas wasn't sure why they were having the barbeque this Saturday if that was the case, but he wasn't the one who planned it, so whatever.

They settled back at their table, silently agreeing that they'd had enough fun screwing with strangers for the day. They'd already bothered mostly everyone here and they didn't want to get into trouble. Plus, Demyx was genuinely interested in his coach's announcements, probably because he was actually a member of the swim team.

Axel and Roxas tuned in for the first few minutes, catching all the 'I'm glad you all could make it out today, and I want you to know we're going to have a great year, blah, blah, blah.' Then they resorted to making fun of the Jehovah's Witnesses pamphlet.

* * *

><p>When the speech was finally over, Roxas was sprawled out on top of the table from the waist up. Axel was playing with his hair, and it tickled, but he didn't do anything about it. It felt kind of nice, actually. There was just something very comforting about someone running their fingers through your locks, fingernails occasionally tugging on a strand a little harder than the others, or lightly scratching your scalp. Plus, Roxas loved big hands, and Axel's hands were pretty big, especially for how skinny he was.<p>

Demyx sank back into his seat with a sigh, as if he'd just finished a very satisfying meal. Excitement was in his eyes. "Ah, I can't wait to compete next week! I'm so excited!" He glanced at the two other occupants at the table. "Aren't you guys excited?"

The two looked up at him with bored, tired expressions on their faces. "No," they said in unison.

"Jinx!" Roxas cried, hastily sitting upright.

"Whatever, I don't owe you a soda," Axel dismissed it with a grin. He didn't expect it when the blond socked him in the shoulder. "Hey, what the hell was that for?" he grumbled, rubbing his shoulder. He received a jab in the side and whimpered.

Roxas just smiled at him innocently. "In Destiny Islands, you don't owe anyone anything if you're jinxed. When you're jinxed, it means you can't talk. If you do talk, I get to punch you." He cackled maniacally. "You're in for it now, Axel Flynn!"

Demyx joined Roxas in laughing and promptly received a glower from the redhead.

"So how do I get un-jinxed?" He cried out when Roxas punched him again.

"Like I'd tell you!" the blond scoffed. There was a mischievous twinkle in his eyes.

Axel sat there for a moment. He put on his most animated thinking face, stroking his chin as if he had a beard. He hummed as he thought. Then, enlightenment reigned supreme over his face, and he had an idea.

Both Roxas and Demyx followed him with grins on their faces when Axel stood up from the table and began to walk into the crowd of people mingling there. They smiled at how he milled around like a lost puppy. Finally, though, it seemed like he found what he was looking for, and began walking purposefully in a certain direction.

Eventually, they reached Sora, Riku, Kairi, and some other guy. They were all talking in a group, laughing and joking. Roxas thought it was a little strange that he would go to Sora to ask how to un-jinx himself. There was no way Sora would tell him.

"What do _you_ want?" Sora growled when he saw Axel approaching.

Riku, Kairi, and the guy Roxas didn't know watched with interest as Sora glared at the redhead. It certainly was something to see happy, bubbly Sora all angry.

Roxas and Demyx silently joined the group while Axel put a hand on Sora's shoulder with a grin, making the brunet flinch away. The redhead grinned wider and brushed Sora's cheek with his hand.

"Axel! Stop it!" Sora hissed. "What do you want?" He backed away once more.

"How do I un-jinx myself?" he wondered.

Roxas smiled triumphantly when Axel grimaced at the blow to his stomach.

Sora smiled at Roxas. "You jinxed him!" Roxas just nodded. He sneered at Axel. "Well, it serves you right! Always bothering my poor brother. Always being so handsy with everyone! There's no way in heck I'll tell you!"

Axel didn't say anything, but he did bob his head up and down in understanding. Then he reached out and grabbed Sora, hastily pulling the brunet into his chest. He didn't let go even as Sora squealed and tried to get out of his grasp. He squeezed the poor boy in a tight embrace.

"No! Stop! Axel, let go of me! Roxas, help me!" Sora whined, struggling weakly against the redhead. He pounded on the redhead's chest, but Axel wasn't fazed.

The group around them was in fits and giggles at this point. What fun! Roxas was laughing so hard that he couldn't decline Sora's plea verbally, so he shook his head instead. There was no way he was going to pass up this opportunity to make Sora suffer a hug-filled fate with the brunet's favorite person.

"Axel!" Sora hissed in a low voice when Axel's hand gradually dropped lower and lower on his back. "No, don't touch me! NO! STOP!" he was wailing loudly by this point. "I won't tell you, so just stop it!"

Axel planted his hand firmly on Sora's ass and gave a few squeezes. '_Nice and soft~ Like a baby's bottom… Ahhh…~_'

"Axel!" Sora shouted. He immediately clapped his hands over his mouth and gasped when he realized what he'd just done. "I just un-jinxed you…! No fair, you didn't even know that you had to get someone to say your name three times! You were just trying to get me to tell you!" he pouted.

"Our fun is over!" Demyx said through his giggles. He elbowed Roxas all buddy-buddy-like, making the blond blush.

"Oh, whatever! Doesn't matter now, anyway!" Roxas said with some giggles of his own.

"Sora, Roxas," their father's voice sounded, lower and louder than the others' giggles.

Sora quickly pulled himself out of Axel's arms and stood at attention for his father. Roxas just looked over at his father good-humoredly. "Yeah, Dad?" he wondered.

'_It's nice to see Roxas having fun with his own friends, especially when they fuck with other people. More satisfying than watching Sora with his boring friends._' "Your mother and I are leaving," Cloud said, standing there awkwardly, like he wasn't sure what he should do with his hands.

"What? Whyyy?" Sora whined. His shoulder's slumped in sadness.

Cloud rolled his eyes. "We just are. We have some errands to run. I'll see you two at home." He tried to walk away at that point, but Sora stopped him by grabbing his arm.

"And how are _we_ supposed to get home?"

"Figure it out."

Riku opened his mouth to speak, but Demyx beat him to the punch. "I'll give you two a ride!" the dirty blond happily interjected. "I can be your guys' personal chauffer! I'm already Axel's chauffer."

Cloud smiled at him. Roxas was very glad that his father liked Demyx. After all, one day, he may happen upon the two making out on the couch. "See? There you go. Problem solved." He tried leaving again, but Sora held him back.

"But I don't want to ride with Axel!" he wailed like a 6 year old who wasn't getting his way. This was the reason that Cloud, while he loved both his sons, was closer to Roxas. Roxas was a scrapper who had to work to get things while Sora was soft and very accustomed to getting whatever he wanted.

"Suck it up and be a man," Roxas said with a grin as he forcibly yanked Sora away from his father. "See you later, Dad!"

Cloud didn't say anything as he walked away from them and toward Tifa, but Roxas knew he was smiling. He'd always liked it when Roxas said things to put Sora in his place, even though it never really worked.

Sora pouted as he turned back around to face the group. "Hmph! Fine! But I call shotgun!" His hands were on his hips in that very manly way of his.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **Welp, I hope y'all enjoyed this chapter. I'd say it's more filler than anything… But it helps characterize Axel and Demyx a little better and you get to see what their relationship dynamic is like. What could all those strange thoughts Axel has be about? Hmm, I wonder… Probably nothing important.

This chapter as well as previous one brings Cloud more to life, I think. But I could be wrong.

Idk what else to say about this chapter! Did you like it? I don't know if I did. I feel sort of blah about it. I always get like this when writing any kind of story, and then when I re-read it, it's never as boring or horrible as I remember. I over-think these things too much… -_-'

Anyway, if you liked it or you want to make my heart happy some more, leave a review telling me what you hated and/or loved about this chapter. Or just alert it or fave or whatever's clever. I love that expression…

Ta for now! Kisses~!


	9. Things Are Shaping Up To Be Pretty Odd

**A/N:** Hello all. This chapter was much easier to write than the last two. I like it =) Though it's a little all over the place. Also, I don't know if anyone noticed, and maybe it's a bit late to point it out, but in chapter 7, I Think He Likes BDSM, I made an MLP:FIM reference. 10 points if anyone realized that Tifa says 'anypony' instead of 'anybody' when she's yelling at Roxas about dripping on the floor xD

The chapter title is from Panic! At the Disco's song "That Green Gentleman (Things Have Changed)."

Anyway, I wanted to address a review I received on the previous chapter because the lovely person who left the review chose not to sign it. So, here's to you Blitz, whoever you may be. I do not see why you are so offended that I mentioned that the pamphlet Axel happened to write his plans down on was a Jehovah's Witnesses pamphlet. I did not say anything negative at all about Jehovah's Witnesses. They may have made fun of it, but I did not write that part, and if it had been a pamphlet about scientology or vegetarianism, they would have done the same thing. You were correct in saying that the Jehovah's Witnesses have nothing to do with what was going on in the story at all, which is partially why I do not understand how this has offended you so much. I am more confused as to why you are "very offended" when there were many other offensive, taboo things that Roxas, Demyx, and Axel made fun of that I _did_ write. For example, they made fun of gangbanging, human trafficking, and child pornography, which I think we can all agree is a much worse thing to make fun of than simply saying Axel wrote out his plans on a Jehovah's Witnesses pamphlet. In addition, if you are offended, then** _please do not read my story_.** My purpose in writing this story is to take people out of the hatred and harshness of real life (whatever their situation may be) and make them smile at the very least. If my mentioning of the Jehovah's Witnesses has honestly offended you, then please do not read it, because that is defeating the purpose of this story. I am glad I do not know you in real life because I can only imagine how much of a prick you must be to leave an unsigned review about the smallest, most insignificant detail of the story one could imagine. /end rant

And on that note, thanks everyone for reviewing! While there was that one negative, unfounded review, all the others have been very supportive and kind! I really appreciate it!

Please enjoy this chapter!

Kingdom Hearts © Disney and Enix

That Green Gentleman (Things Have Changed) © Panic! At the Disco

I also don't own _Slumdog Millionaire_ or any other movie mentioned in this chapter.

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><p>Not long after the twins' parents left, Roxas and Axel wanted to leave. Demyx and Sora were completely content with chumming it up with their swim friends, but Roxas and Axel were totally bored and there wasn't much to do at a barbeque that had died the moment the coach began his speech. The two did little to entertain themselves, busying their time with complaining and whining and begging to leave.<p>

Finally, Demyx and Sora had had enough of their lousy attitudes and agreed to leave. Sora started crying crocodile tears when Axel took shotgun, despite the brunet having called dibs on it earlier that day. Axel looked a little surprised at the display, and his thoughts were clearly guilty. He let the whiny Strife boy have his precious front-seat position.

Axel's brain bargained for the fact that the backseat was better because then he got to sit in close quarters to Roxas.

The ride home was mostly silent with only the stereo playing a popular song by Pitbull or whatever his name was. Roxas really hated Pitbull for casual listening, but he wasn't going to say anything about it. The songs were mostly about the electronic noises, beats, and sounds. The lyrics didn't even matter as long as it was catchy. They could be completely stupid. Seriously, 'Give me everything tonight; for all we know we might not get tomorrow?' Come on. That was pretty bad. It was alright to dance to, but not alright for a quiet, somewhat tense car ride.

"Hey, you guys live in Zexy's area!" Demyx exclaimed as they got closer to the Strife household.

"We're next-door neighbors," both Sora and Roxas said simultaneously. They did this often when people asked them questions they both knew the answer to, so it was nothing new to them. It wasn't as banal for Demyx or Axel, however.

"Holy fuck, that was awesome!" Demyx gasped.

"Yeah, you guys are like, legit twins! You guys must have that connection, right? I mean, usually it's only for identical twins, but you two shared a fucking womb for Christ's sake, so there must be _something_ special there!" Axel put in.

Both Sora and Roxas grumbled in irritation. People always said that when they talked in unison. They should've been more used to that by now, but it still bothered them every time. Perhaps it was because they wished that they did have that connection.

"No, we do not," Roxas replied.

"We just say the same thing sometimes," Sora elaborated.

The twins actually planned for when things like this happened, because there was nothing worse than when they both said 'No, we don't' at the same time. It just put their argument to shame. Thus, they had it scripted so that Roxas would always say 'No,' and then Sora would defend it.

"Well, whatever. Let's go visit Zexy since you guys are neighbors!" Demyx excitedly suggested, gripping the steering wheel tighter.

"Fuck yeah!" Axel agreed.

* * *

><p>The door opened a little faster than normal, so Roxas knew that Zexion was a bit upset. The bluenette stood in the doorway with a scowl on his face. "Can I help—oh, it's you guys. What do you want?" he demanded.<p>

Axel, Demyx, and Roxas stood there in a line, having to squish together a bit so that they all fit on the doorstep. They were looking at Zexion with pleasant expressions on their faces, like they'd just done something naughty and gotten away with it. That was the truth of the matter, anyway. Sora had just decided to go home. He wasn't really friends with Zexion anyway, and wanted to get far away from Axel.

"We just dropped in to say hello!" Demyx replied cheerfully.

Axel pushed his way into Zexion's house, despite the bluenette's fighting to keep him from entering his home. "We're gonna hang out here for a bit, okay, cutie?" the redhead informed him.

Demyx followed close behind Axel. He gave Zexion a sweet smile. "Don't worry, Zexy, it'll be fun!"

Zexion watched the dirty blond enter his house and then turned to glare at Roxas. "Why the hell are they here?" he demanded, blaming Roxas for their presence.

Roxas shrugged sheepishly. "I'm sorry, but it's not really my fault! I had to go to the swim team's barbeque, and my parents decided to leave without us, so Demyx drove us home and then they just decided to visit since we're neighbors and all."

The bluenette gave an irritated sigh and pinched the bridge of his nose. "I suppose that isn't you're fault… I was right in the middle of something, but I suppose it can wait. Come in, Roxas. I might as well _try_ to put up with this until they decide to leave."

Roxas smiled gratefully at Zexion for forgiving him, and entered his friend's house. He and the bluenette found Axel and Demyx sprawled out on the couch and armchair in the living room. They immediately stopped talking when the two friends entered.

"Hey, Zexy, can we watch a movie or something? Please!" Demyx requested excitedly from his place on the armchair. He gave Zexion his best puppy-dog eyes and made his lower lip tremble dangerously.

On the inside, Roxas swooned at Demyx's display, but on the outside, he acted like he didn't care, and went over to sit on top of Axel, who was spread about the entire couch on his back. He made sure to plop himself roughly on Axel's stomach, making him weakly cry out in pain.

Zexion heaved another sigh and his head tilted to one side with fatigue. "Fine, fine, whatever. Feel free to choose a movie from my selection." He went to go sit on the armchair on the opposite side of the room as the one Demyx was in.

"Fuck yeah!" Demyx cheered as he dove for the TV set, opening the glass cabinets to reveal Zexion's DVD's. He rifled through the movies as Zexion watched with bated breath, hoping the dirty blond didn't break anything or rearrange the DVD's too much. He put a lot of time into alphabetizing his collection.

Axel begged Roxas to get up, but the blond was more interested in making the redhead suffer under his minimal weight. It wasn't like he was crushing his ribs or anything. As long as nothing cracked too badly, Roxas was quite alright with torturing the poor older boy. He didn't feel that way when Axel began to tickle his ribs.

Roxas slapped at Axel's hands, but it wasn't long for the redhead to overtake Roxas and pin him to the couch with tickles. Sora would've killed them both if he had been there, but seeing as he wasn't, Roxas took it into his own hands to kill Axel. He swung a blind fist and was surprised when it connected with Axel's nose and he fell backwards against the armrest with a pained yelp.

"You deserved that!" Roxas said with a cackle.

The injured redhead pouted and held his nose in his hands. Then he got a serious look on his face. "Fuck, I think I'm bleeding." He removed one of the hands from his nose and found that, yes, it was definitely bleeding. "Zexy, can I have some tissues or something?" he asked in as pathetic voice as possible.

Once again, Zexion sighed and rolled his eyes. "Yes. Follow me, and try not to bleed on the carpet."

"Wait, Zexy!" Demyx called to the bluenette. "I don't want to see any of your movies! I mean, you're cool and all, but I'm not interested in _Gattaca_ or _Memoirs of an Invisible Man_. Don't you have any _good_ movies?" he wondered.

"_Gattaca_ happens to be one of my favorite movies! It's a classic take on genetic engineering and modification!" Zexion roared. "If you don't like my movies, then don't watch them!" He turned tail and stomped off to the downstairs bathroom with Axel following slowly behind him, clutching at his nose.

"Hey, Dem, if you don't like these, I can go get a DVD from my house. My family's collection is less science-fiction and more action and comedy-type stuff," Roxas offered.

"Yeah, do it!" Demyx demanded. "Go, go, go! You do that, and I'll raid Zexion's kitchen for some popcorn or chips or something!"

Roxas shrugged. Zexion really wouldn't like Demyx going through his things, but he figured that the dirty blond would do it anyway. He wasn't rebellious, it was more like he didn't see the need to follow a list of rules when he wasn't harming anyone. Roxas liked that about Demyx. He had initiative and wasn't afraid to make mistakes or to make others angry.

* * *

><p>About five minutes later, the group of boys reconvened in Zexion's living room. Axel was slumped over in the couch, his nose now clear of blood, Demyx was relaxing in the same armchair he'd sat in before everyone had left with a bowl of popcorn in his lap, and Zexion and Roxas were working on getting the DVD player to work because the damn thing refused to read the disc.<p>

"Why did you bring _Slumdog Millionaire_? Don't you have any action movies like _Die Hard_ or anything that won't make us feel like we're going on an emotional journey together?" Axel complained.

Roxas glared over his shoulder at the redhead. "Most of our DVD's are still packed up in a box somewhere, but I don't know where they are. This was the only one I could find because it was still in the DVD player. And anyway, it's not _that_ bad!"

"Yeah! It's a really good movie, Ax!" Demyx sided with the blond. "It's really cool how it all just works out! Plus, the love story is so cute! We can share this moment together as bros!"

"Dem, why have you seen this before?" Axel wondered, sounding confused. "At least with Roxas, he can blame it on Sora forcing him to. Nami would never force you to do anything."

"I went and saw it with Naminé, of course! Nothing like bonding with your adorable baby sister!" he giggled. "Besides, I wanted to see it anyway. I asked you to see it with me, remember? But Naminé wanted to go, too, so we just went together. It's a good movie, I promise!"

Axel rolled his eyes. "Whatever, it's better than all Zexion's science-y movies." He grabbed a pillow from the couch and began hugging it tightly against himself.

"Okay, there we go. Finally," Roxas grumbled as the DVD player finally decided to cooperate. He returned to the couch to sit on the opposite side as Axel, drawing his knees up onto it so that he was slouched against the armrest.

Zexion went back to his armchair and worked the remote, setting up the movie.

* * *

><p>By the end of the movie, Demyx was tearing up and trying to keep himself from crying. Zexion was munching on some chips he'd gotten during the movie, uncaring to both the end of the movie and to Demyx's pathetic display of sensitivity. Roxas was still slumped against the couch's armrest, but his legs were properly on the floor because Axel had fallen asleep during the movie and decided that Roxas' lap was the perfect pillow for him to use.<p>

Roxas didn't mind Axel being there. In fact, Axel was inhumanly warm, which made him like a cozy blanket for the blond to use. It was also amusing because Axel talked in his sleep. He kept murmuring about Zexion being his baby sister, or something like that. It was very unclear, but still amusing nonetheless.

"Aw, Dem, it'll be okay!" Roxas assured him. He hatched a brilliant idea. "Come here, I'll hold you and you can tell me all about how the movie was so beautiful and sad." He shoved his redheaded blanket onto the floor and patted the seat next to him as an invitation for Demyx.

Demyx sniffled and nodded, stepping over the now-stirring Axel. He sat down and buried his face into the crook of Roxas' neck. "It was just so _lovely_! Why is it so beautiful, Rox, _why_?" he sobbed. He continued to ramble incoherently about _Slumdog Millionaire_ and Roxas continued to comfort him.

Zexion got up to turn the movie off, placing his bag of chips on the counter. It appeared that he didn't want to see the spectacle going on behind him, which was understandable.

Axel finally groggily sat up from the floor and rubbed his head. "Ugh, I have this horrible headache… How did I end up on the floor?" he wondered with a yawn. His demeanor shifted into a tenser, angry one when he turned around and saw Demyx going to Roxas for comfort for the second time that day.

"I pushed you off the couch, of course. I had to make room for Demyx, after all. Isn't that right, Dem Dem?" Roxas cooed to the dirty blond. He rubbed the older boy's back comfortingly.

The redhead stood up and sat down on the other side of Demyx, grumbling to himself. "Demyx, it's already almost one. We should go. Don't you have to drop Nami off somewhere?" he wondered.

Demyx immediately pulled away from Roxas and started heading for the door. "Shit! You're right! Come on, Ax, let's go! We'll see you guys later!" he called back to Zexion and Roxas.

**[1]** « Au revoir, mes enfants ennuyeux! » Axel said with a grin, following after Demyx.

Roxas scowled. « Nous ne somme pas ennuyeux ! Vous êtes très agaçant, Monsieur Anorexique ! Ou, est-ce que je dois dire 'Madame Anorexique ?' » He shouted after Axel.

Axel stopped for a second and glanced over at the blond with a grin on his face. « Ah, parles-tu français? Quelle chouette! »

Axel's grin spread to Roxas' face. He didn't know Axel spoke French. He'd been studying French for two years now himself. « Mais, nous ne somme pas les amis. Alors, vous devez utiliser 'vous.' »

"Fuck that!" Axel said with a laugh. "We're gonna be besties, just you wait, Roxas Strife. It _will_ happen! Peace!" With that, he hurried out the door, slamming it a little harder than he needed to.

The grin on Roxas' face transformed into a smile. He decided then that he didn't mind the idea of being best friends with Axel. Actually, it sounded like it would be really fun. Axel was really cool.

Zexion placing the DVD on the table in a loud manner broke Roxas out of his thoughts. "Fantasizing about Axel, I see," Zexion said with a grin. '_Better Axel than Demyx_.'

"No, I just think he's funny sometimes. Most of the time he's irritating, though. He's been PMSing all day, I swear," Roxas replied with a scoff. Of course, he was referring to Axel's temper.

"So you speak French?" the bluenette wondered.

"Mhmm, I take it in school. What language are you taking?"

"German."

"Strangely, that really suits you for some reason," Roxas said. "Anyway, are you sick of me now? Or do you wanna hang out some more?"

Zexion smiled at his blond friend. "You can stay. Actually, would you like to see what I was in the middle of before the three of you arrived? I don't mind showing you, but Axel and Demyx… they are another matter entirely."

"Sure, as long as I don't get turned into a vampire or something," Roxas replied with a grin.

The bluenette led Roxas up to the second floor into the room that would have been Tifa's office in his own house. In Zexion's house, it was like a library mixed with a laboratory. There were bookcases filled with many different tomes of dull colors. In the middle of the room, however, there were two rectangular tables pushed together to make one square-shaped surface. There was a light microscope, papers, notebooks, folders, a few books, and several cages of mice on top of the tables.

"Whoa, Zexion, are you some sort of mad scientist?" Roxas asked once he had looked around the room a bit. He went over to where Zexion was, looking at the mice.

"Something like that, I suppose. I'm just doing research on mice. Nothing _too_ crazy." Zexion stated. His tone was flat, and he looked a little nervous to Roxas. It looked like he was hiding something, but his forehead wasn't very helpful. '_Roxas will never talk to me again, I know it._'

"So why were you so angry when we got here?" Roxas was curious as to what Zexion was hiding, but he wasn't going to ask him straight out. Plus, it was very interesting to Roxas. He'd never met anyone who liked to conduct actual scientific experiments.

"I was in the middle of a pivotal discovery when the three of you waltzed in here unannounced. I really wanted to get back to it, but there was no possible way with Axel and Demyx here. They would probably want to play with the mice," Zexion explained.

"Soo… What exactly are you studying?" Roxas wondered. He really did want Zexion to tell him about all the mystery. Plus, he had a sinking feeling that this had something to do with the power he suspected Zexion possessed.

The bluenette didn't respond immediately. He set about organizing the table's contents fairly slowly. Roxas didn't say anything, and finally, Zexion looked up at him and met his gaze. "Look, I don't know if you'll believe me… And I don't want you to think I'm crazy. I want you to promise that your feelings towards me won't change, but… that is a childish thing to request."

Roxas smiled. It looked like he was going to tell him after all. "Zexion, even if it is childish, I promise not to change the way I think of you. I know what it's like having to hide something people might think you're crazy for. Everyone has something like that to hide."

Zexion sighed. "But not like this… I suppose I will just come right out and say it; I have a special ability called 'power augmentation.' That means I can enhance or weaken the powers of others… I'm not sure how I got this ability, but I have had it as far back as my memory can recall. I've been doing testing on these mice to study this ability. This would be the appropriate time for you to leave and never talk to me again."

To be honest, Roxas had never even heard of such a power, even in comics or cartoons, but it sounded badass. "Holy fuck, that's awesome Zexion!" he gushed. He felt his cheeks flush out of pure over-excitement. Before he could even stop himself, he rambled on, "I _knew_ you had some sort of special ability! Still, I had no idea what it could be!"

"You mean, you're _not…_ weirded out by it?" Zexion asked, completely in shock.

"Hell no! I mean, I can read truths myself, so it's not exactly a surprise to me." Roxas quickly realized that he'd just spilled his biggest secret. It was a bigger secret even than being gay. His face immediately paled. "Um, I didn't say anything just now." On the inside, Roxas was cussing at himself, putting himself down, saying the most horrid things to himself he could. It was easy to prey on his insecurities; they were his own, after all. Even unrelated things came spilling from his mind to insult him, like how his mother would never love him or how everyone preferred Sora over him.

Hysteria quickly entered Roxas, and whatever Zexion was saying, he couldn't hear it. He was in such a panic that everything was blurring rapidly around him and he could only hear a deafening of rush air, like one might hear while sky-diving, or even with your head sticking out of the window of a moving car, only amplified by at least three times.

Suddenly, Roxas' vision was filled with blackness and sporadic flashes of light breaking through, making him dizzy and nauseous. The sound of the wind increased, and he was vaguely aware of the sound of his body thumping against the floor.

* * *

><p>When Roxas opened his eyes, he saw slate eyes that looked very familiar. There was deep concern within the eyes. A face began to attach itself to the eyes, and that made them all the more familiar. It was a cute face, but there was a thick scar on one of the eyelids. Hair began to flow down from the head in a pasty blue color, hanging off of the form.<p>

After a few blinks, everything was real again, and Roxas realized that Zexion kept repeating his name. "Huh?" he replied incoherently. He tried to sit up as the sound filtered back into his ears, as if water had been impeding the sound from entering, but was now oozing out. He didn't like that feeling, and it prevented him from sitting up.

"Roxas, are you alright?" Zexion sounded panicked.

Roxas, still not in a very clear frame of mind, said, "You know, Zexion, you're really cute. I sort of feel like I want to kiss you." The blond furrowed his brows together. He looked Zexion dead in the eyes and asked, "Is that allowed?"

Zexion's entire face burst into a deep, red color that was very uncharacteristic of him. Usually he just turned pink in the cheeks a little bit. This time, his blush reached his ears. "Um…" he trailed off. He had no idea what to say as a response.

Finally, Roxas' sense began to return and he groaned. "Fuck, what did I just say? I don't even…" he brought a hand to his face and frowned. "What the hell happened? Where am I again?"

The bluenette didn't respond. Instead, he hid is face in his hands. "I'm not cute. Why on earth would you want to kiss _me_?"

While Roxas wasn't quite sure what was going on, what had happened, or where he was, he sort of didn't mind it. Seeing Zexion blush was cute as hell. Not that hell is cute, but that is beside the point! Zexion equals adorable. The blond couldn't help but give a goofy chuckle. "What are you talking about? You're fucking _adorable_, Zexion. Anyone would love to kiss you, even me. Especially me!" Then Roxas realized that he was _supposed_ to be straight as a board. "Not that I'm gay or anything… Boobs, heh."

Zexion didn't remove his hands from his face, which was probably his mistake, because it was SO CUTE. Ahem. "Oh, Roxas, you might as well come to school riding a unicorn made of dildos and vibrators. And besides that, I am in no way adorable, or cute, for that matter. I'll have you know that I am very ugly!"

Realizing that Zexion honestly didn't give a rat's ass (probably because the bluenette himself was crushing on a man), Roxas decided not to try to get back into the closet. "Okay, fine, but you can't tell anyone or else I'll take a shit in your bed or something weird like that. And _besides_," Roxas said, copying the bluenette's word usage, "you're about as adorable as a group of kittens snuggling with puppies. Come here, Zexy, I'll kiss you." He reached his hands out invitingly for Zexion.

"Don't call me Zexy," he commanded, not taking his hands away from his face. "You'll make me actually want to let myself kiss you."

"So that means you want to, right? Zexy, Zexy, Zexy! Cute little Zexy! Come here, Zexy, Zexy, Zexy! Come _here_!" Roxas cooed in a slightly musical tone. While he knew he had a crush on Demyx, he didn't mind kissing Zexion. The bluenette was adorable, after all. And Roxas knew from experience that kissing felt really good, even if you weren't kissing someone you were necessarily sexually attracted to. Still, Zexion was a better candidate for kissing than his exes because he was actually attracted to Zexion (physically, at least).

Zexion slowly removed his hands from his face, earning a few more invitations from Roxas. He put his hands on the blond's shoulders to steady himself as he leaned down (Roxas was laying down since he'd just passed out, incase you forgot). His eyes were full of longing, but his face was full of fear.

"There we go, I won't hurt you. Come, child. I will kiss you now." Roxas grinned as he raised his hands to meet Zexion's face. He cupped the bluenette's cheeks. There was no escape now. Roxas couldn't explain how much he liked the way Zexion's hair felt as it touched and tickled his face. When Zexion's lips finally met his, he didn't feel sparks or anything like that. But he loved the sensation just the same. It'd been a long time since he'd kissed anyone.

When they broke the kiss, Zexion hastily sat back up in the chair he was situated in. His face was all red and he was panting. "We're still just friends, right, Roxas?" he asked, looking scared. "I mean, we don't have to date now just because of a… you know…"

"Only if you tell me what happened before I woke up here. Sorry, but a deal's a deal," he said as he flipped onto his side and propped himself up in his elbow.

Zexion grinned at this, looking giddy. "Well, I showed you my base of operations and told you about my ability, power augmentation. Then you said that you weren't surprised and that you could read 'truths'… Then you broke down and passed out."

Roxas groaned and regretted telling Zexion. He knew it wouldn't be a big deal to him, especially since he had a power of his own, but he didn't like how he'd so easily told the bluenette, especially after only have knowing him for about a month now. He hadn't told anyone at all in Destiny Islands and he'd lived there his entire life up until recently. "Okay, well, you can't tell anyone. Just like about me being gay."

"The same goes for you, and on both counts, as well. I have never told anyone about my power, or my sexuality. I don't know what possessed me to tell you… Anyway, tell me more about your power. What does reading truths entail exactly? Is it like reading minds? Or hearing them? Please, tell me all about it! I would like to study your ability as well! One second, let me get a pad of paper and a pencil."

In the time that Zexion was gone, Roxas realized that he was in the bluenette's bed. He wondered how the boy had been strong enough to carry him from the other room and into the bed. But then he smacked his forehead with a 'duh' as he remembered Zexion's ability to enhance power levels. He wondered vaguely if he could increase a power level to over nine thousand. Then he called himself a nerd and spent the rest of the time waiting for Zexion in a depression of what he was doing with his life and why he was such a geek.

Zexion returned soon enough with a notebook and a pen in his hand. He sat back down on the chair and adjusted his junk a bit (he was wearing skinny jeans, and things tended to get a little scrambled) before leaning forward towards Roxas with intense curiosity on his face. His expression changed for a moment. "So, before we begin, I just wanted to ask… We really are still just friends, right? I mean, not that I don't… It's just that… Well I… I-I like someone else," he sputtered.

A few chuckles escaped Roxas. "It's cool. I know who you like. Truth-reading, remember? Oh, but I guess most people aren't familiar with that term. Just call it mind-reading for now. Anyway, as for the kiss, we're friends…" Roxas saw the potential and was careful with his next sentence. "Did you like the kiss?" he asked.

Zexion's normal, pink blush returned. "Not particularly, of course. As I said, I like someone else." '_That was the best kiss I've ever had._'

"Oh, _really_? Because I'm thinking it's the best kiss you've ever had." Roxas raised his eyebrows at Zexion.

"Right, 'truth-reading,' I forgot." Zexion gave a small huff, as if his pride was aching. "Well, then, yes, I did like it."

"Well, then, we could be friends who… kiss often. Regularly. Sometimes…" Roxas' voice trailed off. He was giddy at the prospect of having a friend with benefits, especially a male one as cute and laidback as Zexion. This was the perfect opportunity for him to wrack up some more experience and explore his sexuality more.

"Friends who kiss… periodically?" Zexion wondered.

"You know… Friends with benefits. I scratch your back, you scratch my back-type thing. But it's more like, I S your D, you S mine. Come on, it could be fun! Think of it, wouldn't you like to dominate me? Toss me around a little? Or wouldn't you like me to dominate _you_ and toss _you_ around a little? I guess I'd be fine either way. We could switch off if you like." Now that Roxas had finally said it, he was excited about all the possibilities.

"Are you really asking me this, Roxas?" Zexion wondered lamely. His face was bright red again.

"Yes, now what is your answer?" The blond wondered eagerly. There was no real reason for Zexion to say no.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: [1] **Roxas' and Axel's French dialogue goes like this:

Axel: Good bye, my boring children!

Roxas: We aren't boring! You're very annoying, Mr. Anorexic! Or should I say 'Mrs. Anorexic?'

Axel: Ah, you speak French? What fun!

Roxas: But we aren't friends. So you have to use 'vous' (which is the formal way of saying 'you.' 'Tu' is informal).

If you speak French legitimately or are a French person, then I'm terribly sorry if I slaughtered your language.

It was actually my original plan to have Zexion and Roxas be friends with benefits. I was very honestly re-thinking it and planning not to put it in (especially since Roxas has a crush on Demyx), but sometimes the characters just take the story where they want it to go. It sounds more natural than forcing it the other way, in my opinion.

I have a lot of arguments to back up my decision (and yes, this is still AkuRoku, there was a lot of relationship development in this chapter as well as the previous one). My main defense that I think everyone ought to understand, especially since I'm assuming that most of my audience is made up of girls, is because when I write this story, I write it from the mind frame of a guy. I get into a masculine mind frame because, while the perspective is third person limited, Roxas is the main character. For example, Zexion adjusting his junk? It just came out because that's something guys must do occasionally. Anyway, my point is, even if Roxas and Zexion have teh smex, it wouldn't sway their feelings for each other. Since they aren't girls, sex isn't necessarily about 'making love.' It's difficult to explain, I suppose, but I'm basically saying that any affectionate, naughty activities that may or may not occur between the two will not increase their romantic feelings towards each other.

Another reason would be that I've had a lot of discoveries and opinion changes on sexuality. I don't think it's right than in most fan fiction, there is a set seme (top) and uke (bottom0. I also don't think it's right that it has to be set in stone that the main coupling of the story has to immediately fall for each other and that they can't look at other people. Going back to the guy mindset, men look at other women even when they are in a happy relationship. I've had boyfriends, and I've seen it with my own eyes.

Anyway, sorry for the rants and explanations in these author notes today -_-' I just have this feeling that someone is going to complain about the ZexyRoku (lol I don't even know what this pairing is called). I personally think it is a sadly over-looked pairing! Anyhoozle, I really hope you enjoyed it and AkuRoku IS ON THE WAY DO NOT FRET, CHILDREN. IN THE MEAN TIME ENJOY THIS DEMYROKU AND ZEXYROKU LOLOLOLOL. /shot

Actually I just checked dA, it appears that Roxion is the actual name for this pairing xD Anyway, loved it or hated it, tell me about it in a review or just alert and fave the story!

Kisses~!


	10. BroCuddles Are Manly, 'Kay?

**A/N: **Welcome back, you! You! Ahh, you~!

So hello how are you? My summer break ended and today was my first day of school. I pulled an all-nighter last night in order to finish all my English AP homework and received only about an hour of sleep. Then, when I got to class, the teacher surprises us and says it's extra credit and doesn't even affect our grade. She's not even collecting the books she told us to annotate. No points for my hard work and lack of sleep. Heart equals broken.

As far as first days go, mine was average. I have a feeling this school year will suck… but I got to hear French again for the first time in months~! I truly love the French language. I really do.

Also, Blitz: water under the bridge, my friend. My advice: next time think before reacting too harshly.

To everyone else, thanks for all the reviews and support and love~! I got like 13 reviews or something like that on the last chapter, and it made my horrid stress/homework-filled week absolutely wonderful!

Enough about me and more about Roxas and Zexion and Sora. Please enjoy.

Kingdom Hearts © Disney and Enix

* * *

><p>Roxas must've laid there for at least five minutes in silence. He watched as Zexion thought over the pros and cons of being friends with benefits. There wasn't much on the con side that Roxas could see. The main reason the bluenette seemed to be struggling was due to fear, many different kinds of fear. Finally, the silence ended.<p>

"No strings attached?" Zexion wondered.

"Nope. Look, I only like you as a friend, Zexion. This is just a wonderful opportunity for us to experiment. How many times in your adolescent life do you get the chance to dip your foot into the water without the risk of someone blackmailing you? You could discover what you like best, and gain skills that you could use to impress oh, say, Demyx with if you ever got together with him." As the words left Roxas' lips, he realized that the thought of Demyx and Zexion together was easier to picture than himself with Demyx… It sort of hurt a little bit, so he decided then that he would try to find someone else he could crush on. For now, he would hopelessly continue to like Demyx, the boy who was meant for his closest friend in Radiant Garden so far.

"Roxas… I… accept your proposition. It definitely sounds like it could be… helpful, I suppose. It's simply too tempting to refuse," Zexion admitted.

A somewhat uncomfortable silence fell over them.

"Zexion?" Roxas asked.

"Yes?" the bluenette replied.

"I think you're my best friend." The blond felt a little childish in saying so, but he couldn't deny the fact that he felt closer and more connected with Zexion than he remembered he felt with Hayner back home. Hayner had been a wonderful friend and all, but Zexion was just… so much more relatable. It put Roxas at ease.

"I think you are my best friend as well," Zexion replied with a smile. "Anyway, tell me all about your ability to 'read truths.'" He brought his notebook and pen into a ready position to write.

* * *

><p>By the time Roxas got home, it was nearly 5:30. His parents were home by that point, and were in the living room doing Tae Bo together. They had pushed the couches and sofa to the corners of the room to make more space. On the TV was Billy Blanks, instructing them. It reminded Roxas of their home in Destiny Islands.<p>

When he and Sora were younger, they would always do Tae Bo with their parents. It was their family thing that they did every few days. The twins would always go opposite directions of each other so that when they punched and kicked, it would look like they were fighting each other. Their parents always found it amusing and they never quite made it through an entire video before they would start play-fighting and then end up in a dog pile of tickling and laughter or with their parents chasing them around the house with threats of tickles abound.

The memory made him smile, and he wondered why they'd stopped being that family. His smile faded as he answered the question himself. Tifa began to hate him and then he and Sora became teenagers. He went up the stairs, calling a short greeting down to his parents. A lump had formed in his throat and he could feel tears welling up in his eyes.

Unfortunately for Roxas, when he opened the door to his room, he found Sora and Riku there cuddling on _his_ bed. He had hoped he would be alone, but he forced his tears away when he realized that _Riku was cuddling with his twin on his bed_. It appeared that they hadn't heard him enter the room, and the lights were off, casting Roxas in the shadows.

He stood there in silence for a moment, not breathing. Why on earth was Riku here? Why was he putting his hands on his dear brother? It took that moment for Roxas to rip away the stamp of approval he'd given Riku. He didn't approve of his twin being touched! It was then that he heard sniffling. He also realized that they were whispering to each other. He hadn't noticed since he'd been so wrapped up in his own thoughts.

"Shh, Sora, it'll be okay… I got you… It's okay," Riku's silky voice murmured.

Sora sniffled some more and a hiccup escaped his mouth. "I'm sorry Riku… I'm sorry you have to see me like this…" he apologized, his words punctuated with more sniffles. "Sometimes, when I think about these things… I just can't stop. I'm sorry…"

"It's perfectly fine, Sora. I'm glad you're comfortable enough to cry around me. Sometimes, we all need a good cry. You can let it all out if you want… I'll stay here with you until the pain goes away."

There was silence for a while until a muffled sob ripped through Sora. It was probably muffled by Riku's chest, but Roxas couldn't see them well enough to verify. The sobs came more frequently.

"Tell me all about it, Sora. It'll help, I promise," Riku invited.

Roxas was curious about what was ailing his brother. He hadn't been sending out any distressing thoughts that Roxas had seen. He felt a little bad for eavesdropping on their secret, intimate conversation, but it didn't make him feel any guiltier than reading people's foreheads.

"You won't laugh at me?" Sora wondered in that painfully naïve and innocent tone of his he took up when he was genuinely upset.

"Of course not!" Riku sounded baffled even at the thought of it. "If I wanted to laugh at you, I would have by now. And I would never laugh at you! Especially not while you're crying. Sora, you're my… friend." He sounded like he'd hesitated on saying the word, and when it did come out, it sounded bitter.

Sora didn't respond right away. He did chuckle, though. "I guess you're right. I trust you, Riku." There was another pause. "I guess I'll start with Roxas…"

Roxas' ears seemed to perk up and open wider when he heard his name called. He listened so hard to hear every syllable being said.

"What about Roxas?"

"You already know this, but we had a fight the other week. It was about Axel… and today at the barbeque, you saw how Axel and Demyx were acting! They made Roxas do some bad, bad things! I mean, what if they got him into drugs…? What would I do? What if he became an alcoholic because of them? I always get so worried about Roxas. Back in Destiny Islands, I worried the same things even though his friends weren't nearly as bad as Axel."

"Why do you worry so much? Roxas is just as old as you are, and he's smart. He wouldn't do anything stupid like drugs."

"I don't know, but even when I tell myself that, there's just this… this, voice at the back of my head. Roxas isn't the happiest person and I know he goes through bouts of depression occasionally. I guess I just worry that one day I'll wake up and he has cuts on his arms or he's high on something. What scares me most is that if he chooses to do those things, I wouldn't be able…" he broke down again and sobbed, earning more reassuring coos from the silverette. "I wouldn't be able to stop him. He doesn't even like me half the time… He doesn't realize how much I care about him. He would rather walk to school with Zexion than with me. Even today, I was here for so long waiting for him to come home so that maybe we could hang out, but he decided to be with Zexion. He doesn't… love me like he used to, Riku… He never wants to hang out or be with me. He just pushes me aside for something better…" He let out a few more sobs.

The lump in Roxas' throat had long since returned. He'd had no idea Sora felt that way. Sora was usually busy, so he hadn't considered that the limited time they _did_ have together, Sora wanted to spend with him hanging out, not separated and doing different things like they'd been doing for years, even before moving to Radiant Garden. If Sora had brought this up in a conversation, he probably would've just brushed it off as his twin being annoying and clingy. He wouldn't have known that it actually bothered him so much.

"And my Dad, he pushes me aside too… He never sees me as his son. I'm a total joke to him. He didn't want to come to the barbeque today, but I know if it had been a chess tournament or something as boring for Roxas, he would've been absolutely psyched to go. He treats me like some kid that lives in his house and eats his food. I guess I shouldn't be so upset about that, though… Mom pretty much hates Roxas, but me and Rox have no idea why. Dad's never been bad to me. Not the way Mom is to Roxas."

"Sora, even if you get treated better than Roxas, it's alright to be upset that your father pushes you aside," Riku assured him in a hushed tone.

Sora hiccupped loudly and sniffled some more. "You know, that's another thing about Roxas… I'm so jealous of him. I'm so jealous of every part of him… He has his drawbacks, but so do I, and I think mine are greater…"

"Why would you think that? You're perfect as you are, Sora."

Bitter chuckles escaped Sora's mouth like barks rather than laughter. "Roxas is so much stronger than I am. He's so… go-with-the-flow and laidback. He's so cool! I mean, he's shy and a bit introverted, but when he's himself, I swear he's the coolest person I know. He's so strong that it's ridiculous! He wouldn't be crying if he were in my position. He may be a sad person in general, but it's like he never lets it get to him. You know, I've only seen him cry like twice since we turned 7 or something crazy like that. It's even more amazing because Roxas was always bullied in elementary school. I tried to protect him, but I couldn't watch out for him all the time. Still, he never complained to me about it."

"Roxas cried when we sold our house in Destiny Islands, but that was probably because I started crying first. He was trying to make me feel better, and then this little, tiny tear rolled down his cheek. He wiped it away there, and that was it. Me, I was crying an entire fucking river. And entire river, Riku! And it didn't stop there. I cried so much. I'm not sure exactly how many times, but I must've shed at least five pounds of tears."

Riku chuckled, but it was bitter like Sora's chuckles. "That's as much as my Chihuahua weighs."

Roxas expected Sora to say something like 'See, I cried an entire Chihuahua!' but Sora surprised him.

"…Really?" his twin's voice said in a whisper. "You have a Chihuahua?" The life in his voice was slowly returning.

"Yeah, his name is Trigger," Riku replied easily. "You'll have to meet him one day. He would absolutely love you! Plus, you look like a dog person."

It was at that point that Roxas decided to leave. Riku had the situation under control. The blond wasn't ready to give him his full stamp of approval back, despite his earlier misconception of the situation. He still didn't really know much about Riku, and would hold off on giving the stamp until a later date. For now, Roxas quietly opened the door and made his exit. He went to Tifa's study and decided to get caught up on the internet via their family computer.

* * *

><p>After Riku had gone home, Roxas dared to enter his room. Upon opening the door, he found that the lights were now on and Sora was checking himself out in the mirror hanging on their closet door. The blond grinned as he wolf-whistled at his twin. "Feeling sexy there, Sora?" he wondered as he went over to his bed and flopped down onto it.<p>

Sora glared at him, but his face was bright red with embarrassment. "Oh, shut up. I look good, right? Don't you ever have one of those days where you're just like, 'Hey, I look really good today?'" the brunet wondered. His hands were on his hips.

Roxas snorted. "Not often. But that's just 'cause I _always_ look really good. And yeah, you just look absolutely wonderful today, Sora! Those jeans just… dat ass, Sora, _dat ass_. The blue really makes your eyes pop! It's like, 'Hey, I'm a fucking pair of jeans, but don't look down here because this guy has some awesome fucking eyes!'"

An irritated huff escaped Sora's body. "Don't mock me, Roxas. I am _not_ in the mood! And could you please tone down the language? Do you kiss your mother with that mouth?" he wondered, shaking his head disapprovingly.

"No. She would never let me," Roxas answered. Before he let himself say anything else, he stopped. He didn't want to make Sora upset. Sora had already balled his eyes out. Roxas would forever feel guilty if he made his twin cry. "Sora, come here, let's have some bro-time cuddling. We haven't done that in _forever_."

Sora studied Roxas closely for a moment, as if wondering whether the blond was joking or if he honestly wanted to cuddle. They did used to cuddle a lot. He narrowed his eyes at his twin. Then his smile quickly returned. "Okay!" he said in giggles. With that, he joined Roxas on the blond's bed, wrapping his arms around his twin as their legs interlocked.

There was no fighting the smile that made its way onto Roxas' lips as Sora got into their customary cuddling position. They were nose to nose and their arms were around each other like a protective shield. Whenever they cuddled, which had become increasingly less and less, it was always like this, and it always felt like they generated their own little force field against the world. Nothing could get to them when they were like this because they had each other.

"Why did we ever stop cuddling, Sora? It always feels so nice…" Roxas wondered. His eyes were on the identical blues of his brother's. It was like they'd created an ocean right there.

The brunet shrugged in reply. "I guess it's because we're getting older. I mean, I always feel kind of childish when we cuddle… It's sort of a little kid thing to do, you know? But still… I like it, too. I love you, Rox, even though we've sort of been fighting recently. I just worry about you."

"I love you too, Sora. You're so adorable, how could I not?" Roxas kissed his brother's forehead. "And anyway, don't you think I worry about you, too? I trust you, though, so I never hire anyone to keep people away from you. You know, like _some people do_." Roxas gave Sora a smug look.

Sora started to laugh. "Sorry, sorry! But you're just so… physically inept."

"Oh, thanks!" Roxas started laughing, too. Abruptly, he stopped laughing. Remembering a conversation he'd had with Zexion awhile ago, he got the urge to ask his twin something. "Hey, Sora, you know how we used to kiss when we were little?" he wondered.

"Mmhmmm."

"Well, do you ever get the urge to kiss me now?" he asked.

Sora glared at him and pulled away from their 'bro-cuddle.' "What the heck kinda question is that? _Of course not_! I love you, Roxas, but not like _that_. Have you been spending too much time with Axel?"

Roxas laughed some more. It _was_ a silly question. He never wanted to kiss Sora, either. Not on the lips, anyway. He could stand to kiss the brunet's cheek or forehead, but that was brotherly love. Very gay, extremely girly brotherly love. Most straight twin boys wouldn't cuddle like this, but Roxas and Sora were fairly effeminate. "Actually, I've been hanging out with Zexion too much. He asked me if we ever kissed when we were younger, and then he asked if we still do."

"You know, I've had this feeling that Zexion is a minxy little thing, especially in bed, ever since I met him. I feel bad for any girl that sleeps with him," Sora admitted.

"Sounds fun!" Roxas exclaimed. He loved the irony of the situation, especially because there was a good chance he would be the one sleeping with Zexion soon. The blond had to agree with his twin. Zexion did give off that impression. A lady in the streets, but a freak in the bed. Thank you Usher, Ludacris, and Lil' Jon for providing such an accurate description.

Sora began laughing again. He returned to their original cuddling position as he giggled. "You're silly, Roxas. Super silly." '_Maybe Roxas really does love me the same… I was probably overreacting._'

"So, Sora, do you wanna hang out tomorrow or something? We haven't done anything together in a while," Roxas offered. He wanted to be a better brother now that he knew how upset his twin was over the situation. Improving would take time, but Sora was worth it.

An apologetic look appeared in the brunet's ocean eyes. "Aw man, sorry, Rox, but I already have plans tomorrow. Wanna hear about them?" Sora asked. His eyes grew bight again and his excitement practically radiated out of him like body odor.

Roxas inwardly huffed to himself. Well, _fine_, be that way. He couldn't help but feel pouty over the fact that Sora had just cried and cried over not spending time with him and now it didn't matter. "Sure, lay it on me, bro." He smiled despite his huffiness. It was always nice to see Sora so pumped up over something.

"Firstly, that sounds wrong. Anyway, tomorrow Riku and I are gonna spend the whole day together! He said he would show me around, and he kept mentioning the malls in the area, so I'm guessing we're probably gonna go to one! And the best part is that he said he'd pay for everything and anything that I would 'require' during our time together. He's so funny like that all the time! I mean, who says 'require?'" Sora wondered excitedly with a trill of giggles, but it was a rhetorical question.

"Hmm, it sure sounds like it'll be a fun date. Think he'll hold your hand? If he does more than that, I'll kill him," Roxas said. He was teasing, but he also wasn't. He meant every word of it, but he was still making fun of Sora… if that made any sense at all.

Shock immediately passed through Sora's face. "What? It's not a date! How could you think it's a date? It's totally not. I like girls. I really wanted Kairi to go, too, but she's busy tomorrow. It's gonna suck being alone with a dude." His words were stiff and terse. Sora was a horrible liar, even without Roxas' ability to help him out. '_Oh, god, what if he __**does**__ hold my hand… It's just gonna be us two…_'

"Roxas, I can't even believe-!" Sora stopped abruptly. His face morphed into one of intense thought. '_Maybe I should just tell him_.' He looked down for a moment in his deep thought.

The blond made sure not to interrupt him. The last thing he wanted to do was to scare Sora away from coming out to him. He wanted the brunet to know that he could tell him anything. Plus, as much as he knew he would regret it once Sora was out to him, he wanted to hear his twin talk about Riku. Roxas guessed that it was probably because he wanted Sora to feel free and to be happy, and nothing lit his face up more than merely _thinking_ about the silverette in question. He wondered what would happen if he actually got to talk all mushy-like about him.

Sora's grip on Roxas tightened, and he rubbed his nose against the blond's, glancing innocently into his eyes as if searching for a sign. Eventually he spoke. "Look, Rox, I have something I want to tell you," he was speaking slowly, "I don't want this to change anything between us… And I'm scared that maybe you won't want to talk to me after I tell you…"

"I'm all ears, Sora. And I promise, nothing you can say will change things between us. Unless you're pregnant. I wouldn't want to be seen with you, in that case."

Sora smiled half-heartedly. "Okay… Roxas, I'm… I…" he sputtered. "I actually… er, um, I… You see, it's funny 'cause I…"

This was just getting ridiculous to Roxas. "Jesus Christ, just spit it out already!" he groaned.

The brunet glared at him. "I LIKE PENIS! There! You happy?" His cheeks flared up in a red hue and he buried his face into the crook of Roxas' neck. "You don't hate me, right?"

Roxas beamed at his twin, though he knew he couldn't see it. "No way! I actually already knew. For a long time."

"You _knew_? And you don't _care_?" Sora wondered incredulously. He removed his face from the blond's neck and stared at him with a puzzled expression on his face.

Awkwardness overcame Roxas when he realized that he now had to come out to Sora just has he promised. It was scary, but not because he thought Sora would hate him for it. It was scary just to say it. He was proud of being gay and all, but there was a fear instilled in him about talking about it in a place he deemed unsafe as far as eavesdropping went. He didn't want his parents to hear. What would they think?

Roxas smiled lovingly at his twin. "Of course I don't hate you. We're twins after all," he said in mild hope that Sora would understand that he was trying to say that they were alike in their preference. It was a lost cause trying to be so subtle with the brunet.

"So what if we're twins? You could still hate me! But I'm just confused as to why you don't even care... Explain please?"

The blond rolled his eyes at his twin in irritation. How had Sora ended up being so dense? Even Zexion knew Roxas was gay in just knowing him for upwards of a month. Sora had lived with him their entire lives, so he should've at least picked up on it by now! Roxas sighed, trying to let his anger fizzle away. He just had to be direct with Sora.

"Sora," Roxas whispered, "I'm gay, too..."

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **So I suppose not much happened in this chapter and it is a little shorter than the others. I thought this was important, however. Finally Roxas and Sora are out to each other and Roxas has a little more insight on his lovely bro. More SoRiku will definitely be incorporated because of these developments, but it will probably be different than in many fics because I will not be changing perspectives. The story is Roxas-centric and will stay Roxas-centric. My apologies if you like switching of the perspectives, but I think people tend to underestimate the power and usefulness of only seeing things from one side (as you would in real life). It leaves room for misunderstandings that even you as the reader will believe =D As with magicians, a writer never reveals their secrets… What could be more fun than that? Nothing~!

After this Axel-less chapter (save for a few mentions), a chapter chock-full of Axel will come. How else would little Roxy spend his Sunday while Sora's off canoodling with Riku?

I noticed something strange while I write Sora's dialogue, and I've noticed it before, but it's more apparent in this chapter because of the sheer amount of dialogue from Sora. I have been writing Sora as very well-spoken. He has a wider vocabulary than most authors award him. I think it would be super gosh darn cute if Sora said a word like 'rambunctious' or 'temerarious.' Yup, Sora is adorable and a closet word nerd. (lol that rhymed)

If you liked the chapter or you want to throw food at me, then please tell me why in a review or just fave and alert the story like other lurkers of your kind. Either way, it is the cheese to my macaroni, I swear~!

Thanks for reading and I will meet you again on the flip side. Peace!


	11. Axel Is So Lucky, Lucky

**A/N: **Oh my gosh, hello! It's been like two weeks since I've updated and I'm terribly sorry. School started up and all. I'm still trying to get used to the workload since this is the most important year for good grades in order to get into college. So I have to get straight A's. Anyway, I'll write more as I fall into a pattern of doing homework and stuff. Idk, the homework doesn't take _that_ much time, but when I get home and finish my homework I'm just so tired and do not want to think. It's partly because I have to walk home, which is two miles away from school, in the heat of California. Bleh. It seems like a lot of authors have taken a break, though, because the stories I've alerted haven't been updated at all. Oh, school, you cheeky devil, you.

Excuses aside, this chapter is just for you and I hope you enjoy it~! It was fun to write, even though I kept falling asleep while writing…

Thank you to all reviewers and people of that nature because you make my heart tingle. Yup.

Kingdom Hearts © Disney and Enix

MLP: FIM © Hasbro/Lauren Faust/Whoever else owns it

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><p>It was around eleven at night and the whole house was dark. Sleepy sounds and creaking noises of the building shifting itself slowly resounded in the background. The only light filtered in from cracks in the blinds. The moon was very bright on that particular night. The only outside noises that could be heard were the slightest rustles of wind and an occasional car. The air was sweet and had a juicy flavor about it, like flower petals covered in dew.<p>

Two occupants in the form of twin boys were lying awake in their bunk beds. They weren't identical in appearance, but they were identical in build and in posture. They were staring upwards, one at the bunk above him and the other at the ceiling, with their heads resting in their hands. Their murmurs filled the air with the light rumbling of (somewhat) masculine voices.

"I can't believe this," the brunet said.

"I know," said the blond.

"This is unbelievable."

The blond grinned at his twin's need to rephrase things. It was a habit he'd picked up at school, probably from his personal Eros, and it was becoming increasingly common. Looking at the two, you probably wouldn't have known that they had confessed one of their deepest secrets with each other.

* * *

><p><em>Sora's eyes quickly grew to the size of saucers, and Roxas worried mildly that his eyeballs would fall out of their sockets. The brunet went rigid and simply stared at his twin. Seconds ticked away. Finally, the silence was broken. "You are?" Sora wondered in a whisper.<em>

_Roxas just nodded. He didn't know what else to say. Even if he did know what else to say, he doubted he would have been able to say anything._

"_Why didn't you ever tell me?" Sora quickly got excited, but Roxas wasn't sure if it was a good kind of excitement or a bad one. His eyes searched Roxas'. "Do you realize this changes everything?" he screeched. He disentangled himself from his twin and sat upright. From there, he glared down at his confused brother._

_When Roxas didn't respond, Sora continued on. Very seriously, he stated, "Now I have to protect you from all the guys at school!"_

_There was nothing that could've kept Roxas from laughing._

* * *

><p>"So, all those girlfriends in Destiny Islands…?" Sora trailed off questioningly.<p>

Roxas chuckled. "Cover-ups. Look good for Mom and Dad, you know. Looks like it didn't really work, though. Mom still hates me," he murmured. He removed a hand from his head and went to trace along some of the wood lines on the slabs that kept Sora's bunk aloft. The rough wood satisfied his touch in a strange way.

"Maybe you should ask Mom why she doesn't like you. I really wish I could tell you that she loves you and you don't have to worry, Roxy, but I think it's pretty obvious that she really dislikes you," Sora's voice suggested.

"Why don't _you_?" Roxas wondered sarcastically. "I don't think she really wants to sit down with me and have a heart to heart about how she hates my guts. I don't want that, either."

Sora snorted. "Well, maybe I _will_!" Then he whispered, "Wimp," just loud enough for Roxas to hear it.

Silence came over them quickly. Figuring it was time to sleep, Roxas rolled over onto his side and began to snuggle into his bed. He yawned a bit before relaxing into his normal sleeping position, one of his hand buried under the pillow and the other on top. As he was teetering on the edge of sleep, Sora's voice brought him closer to consciousness.

"Roxas," he whispered. "I like Riku."

"I know."

* * *

><p>The next morning, Roxas awoke to Sora shaking him awake for the second day in a row. This time, the blond went straight to slapping his brother's face, making the brunet recoil and whine. He sat up despite the violent act, however.<p>

"What is it, Sora?" Roxas croaked through dry lips.

That big, goofy smile of Sora's appeared in an instant, and Roxas always thought it was a wonder his face didn't snap in half because his smile was so big. "Roxas, I'm gonna hang out with Riku today! I'm so excited!" he squealed happily, putting his hands to his cheeks as he blushed. Sora could be so manly at times. Testosterone pretty much oozed from his skin.

"You woke me up for _that_? I already know you're going to hang out with him! You blew me off, remember?" Roxas grumbled as he rubbed at his itching eyes.

"But Rox, I don't know what to wear, so you have to help me!" Sora explained, putting on his serious business face. He went over to his dresser and began to rummage through his clothes. "I need something that says, 'If I was gay, I would be into you.' But it can't be like, 'I'm totally gay and I want to lick your face off.' You know what I mean?" he wondered without turning around.

Roxas turned to face Sora, placing his feet on the ground and yawning. He stretched some more. "No. I can honestly say that I don't know what you mean. What time are you hanging out with him, anyway?"

"He's supposed to come pick me up at like 11:30," Sora replied absently. He finally pulled out a couple of shirts and then moved onto the next drawer, which held pants.

"And what time is it now?"

Sora glanced briefly over his shoulder at their alarm clock. "Nine." He resumed his search.

"The fuuuuck…" Roxas groaned unhappily. He began mourning the loss of precious time that could've been spent sleeping but was instead spent on Sora's mood fluctuations. "Why are you getting ready so _early_? You're always late for school…"

"But this actually matters, Roxas! This could affect my entire future! It's important that I'm prepared and ready and looking my best well before I need to leave," Sora informed him in a very matter-of-factly manner.

The twins went through several rounds of, 'What about this?' 'Oh, it looks okay, I guess…' 'Oh, so is this one better?' 'Maybe you should try the green one.' 'Hm, I don't know…' 'The fuck, Sora, are you _trying_ to get assaulted?' 'Hey, I can wear my shirt how I want!' "That's _my_ shirt! You don't have any V-necks!' 'Well, then why do you have such an adorable, revealing deep V? Hmm?' 'Whatever, don't wear it. Especially not with those jeans.' 'Why not? Do they make my legs look chubby?' 'No, they're too tight! He'd be drooling over you all day!' 'That's the point! I want him to drool!' 'No. Hell to the no, Sora.' 'I want the drool! Heck to the yes, Roxas!' 'NO. Put on a regular pair of jeans. You're not gonna walk around in a deep-V that you can practically see your nipples in with jeans so tight they make it look like you actually have an ass.' 'Ugh, you're impossible!' 'I don't want Riku putting his hands all over my baby brother's ass!' 'Joke's on you 'cause we're twins so I'm _not_ your baby brother!'

That went on for easily thirty to forty minutes before they finally worked out a compromise. Sora's drive to please Riku surprised Roxas. He didn't think his brother would fight so hard to dress like a little slut. He forced the brunet to wear a regular v-neck with a cardigan over it to further protect his innocence. In return, Sora got to wear the super tight jeans. Luckily, the cardigan was almost long enough to cover the brunet's entire ass.

"Don't I look hot, Roxas?" Sora asked once they were done bickering about the clothes. He posed for his twin in an innocent position, but his ass was sticking out.

Roxas smiled at his twin. "Totally, Sora. You are the hottest mo-freaker this side of Radient Garden has ever seen. If Riku was gay, he'd immediately want to have sex with you inside of a mall bathroom. Or maybe in his car. Or maybe _on_ his car." The blond wiggled his eyebrows at Sora.

Eventually, Riku showed up. Instead of coming up to the door like Roxas had hoped, Sora's silver-haired obsession texted him to come outside. It bummed Roxas out a little bit because he'd wanted to play the part of the overly-protective brother and question the shit out of Riku.

Roxas decided to lay out on the couch in the living room and watch TV until he fell asleep. His parents wouldn't bother him. It had been a common occurrence in Destiny Islands.

* * *

><p>Roxas awoke about forty minutes later to a vibrating against his torso. He groaned groggily and patted around his chest and stomach until he found his phone. Without even bothering to look at the caller ID, he pressed the 'Accept' button and groggily asked, "Hello?"<p>

A familiar voice was in his ear. _"Hey, Roxy! Did I wake you up?"_ It was Axel.

"Yes," Roxas stated.

"_Well it's like noon or something. It's not good to sleep past noon! So get your lazy ass up!"_

"Whatever…." Roxas yawned. "What do you waaaant?" he whined.

"_Oh, right,"_ there was shifting in the background, _"Do you have plans for today?"_

Roxas knew where this was headed, so he heaved himself into a sitting position and leaned heavily against the arm of the couch. "Zero plans," he replied.

"_Sweet, let's hang out, okay?"_

Roxas didn't know why Axel was even asking. It wasn't like the redhead to ask for anything. It was more normal of him to just tell him what they were doing. "Fine, I'll get dressed. But this had better be the best day of my life or else I'll… I'll…" The blond's brain refused to think of an appropriate threat.

"_Or else you'll what?"_

Roxas growled at the arrogance in Axel's tone. "Or else I'll chop off all of your pretty red hair. _Got it memorized?_" he asked with a grin. He just loved to tease Axel. It was too fun.

"_Then I swear on my beautiful maney-mane to make this best day of your pathetic, lonely, Axel-deprived life. __**Got it memorized**__,__toots? I'll pick you up in like fifteen to twenty."_

"Who else is gonna be with us?" Roxas wondered as he trudged up the stairs and into his and Sora's room. The wake of Sora's clothing crisis was still lying on the floor, but Roxas didn't complain as he picked up the clothes.

"_Just you and me, baby!"_

The thought of being alone with Axel made Roxas shudder. He wasn't sure if he could handle the redhead all on his own. But then he remembered something that had been said the previous day. "I thought Demyx was your chauffer?"

"_That was just while my baby was in the shop. She's all good now that she's got a new tranny. Runs as good as new,"_ the redhead informed him.

That stopped the blond for a moment. "Tranny?" he questioned.

"_That's the car's transmission, Roxas. Gosh, do you know nothing of cars and their parts?"_ Axel's voice was condescending as he said this, and it made Roxas scowl.

"No, not really. Goodbye, sir." Roxas hung up the phone after that. He wasn't angry with Axel, but he wasn't exactly the happiest camper being woken up before he wanted. Plus, he couldn't very well get dressed without the use of both of his hands.

A little later, there was a knock on the Strifes' door, and Roxas was thankful he reached it before his mother did. Tifa didn't even like it when Zexion came over, and Zexion was nothing in comparison to Axel. Tifa was making her way to the front door when Roxas raced in front of her. "I'm hanging out with a friend today, bye Mom!" he called behind him. Then, when he answered the door to find Axel standing there with a stupid smirk on his face, Roxas simply grabbed the redhead's wrist without stopping and closed the door behind him.

"What's the rush?" Axel wondered as he was dragged over to the red truck parked in front of the Strife household.

"My mom hates me. We have about a minute before she calls my phone and demands that I come home and clean my room and do all her chores," Roxas quickly explained as he got into the redhead's vehicle. He made a face of disapproval as he realized Axel's car was a pickup truck. "Also, a red truck? Really, Ax? Could you be more predictable?"

Axel laughed as he clipped on his seatbelt. He gave Roxas the most irritating grin. "Well, you know me, Roxy. I love red things and blond things. Especially when they're together." He winked at the blond before starting the vehicle and pulling away from Roxas' house.

"You must have it pretty bad for Naminé in that case, hmm?" Roxas wondered with a hum. He loved to ruin the older teen's jokes. It made him feel good on the inside. He shot Axel a shit-eating grin of his own.

The redhead humphed indignantly, but he didn't respond as they pulled onto the main road. He pouted at the road ahead of him and slouched in his seat. A few moments of awkward silence passed. '_This already isn't going right. Maybe I should quit while I'm ahead_.'

Roxas decided to take pity on the poor soul. "So where are we going, Axy? This has to be the best day of my life or snip-snip, remember?" he wondered playfully. He maneuvered himself into a crisscross position on the seat and busied his hands with fiddling with the radio, which had previously been off.

"Well, we can do whatever you want," Axel responded after a thoughtful silence. '_Maybe I should've planned this out a little better…_ _I didn't think I'd get this far!_' He smacked Roxas' hand away from the stereo. "And stop messing with the music! My ride, my music. Check it." The redhead produced an iPod from his pocket and an auxiliary cable from the compartment in the divider between the two front seats. He plugged the device into the stereo and scrolled through his music for a moment, which scared Roxas because he kept taking his eyes off the road.

When the music started up, Roxas shouldn't have been surprised that the first song Axel had chosen was 'Lucky' by Lucky Twice, but he was. He glared at the redhead with the fury of an angry kitten. "Why the fuck…" Roxas began, but trailed off when Axel began to sing (quite badly) along to the Europop bubbling out from the speakers. When Axel looked over at him and squawked, "I'm so lucky, lucky" with that mock-dreamy look on his face, Roxas couldn't help but burst out laughing.

Obviously feeling encouraged, Axel began to seductively sway from side to side and alternate singing at the road and singing to Roxas with that puckered-lip, lidded-eye expression on his face. He occasionally brushed a "sensual" hand down Roxas' shoulder and arm. When the song finally ended, Axel grinned at the blond as his laughter finally subsided.

"You're stupid," Roxas said as he quickly put on a straight face and look towards the road. He flicked his eyes over to Axel (without turning his head) in a condescending way and looked him up and down.

Axel looked slightly hurt for all of half a second before it seemed he realized that his blond-haired companion didn't mean it seriously. "You _like_ me! I make you _smile_!" the redhead crooned.

A grin cracked Roxas' cold expression. "Hell no. You're terrible, simply awful. I do not know why I associate myself with you." The blond had to look out the passenger side window in order to hide the smile that was spreading over his lips.

"Sadface!" Axel whined loudly. "Roxy, why you no love me? All I ever did was appreciate and serve you!" He reached over to Roxas and grabbed his chin, forcing the smaller boy to look him in the face. "Oh ho, ho! I spy a smile there, Roxy-bear."

"And you can rhyme anytime?" Roxas wondered with a goading expression on his face. His smile was as wide as it could go, and he thought it was strange that no one else in Radiant Garden could make him smile like that. Axel was like a wizard or something, what with finding Roxas' lost smile and all.

"Damn straight like a…" Axel paused a moment and stared thoughtfully out the window, "… a wrought-iron gate!" He grinned at Roxas, making the blond grin back. "Pretty sweet skills, I know."

"That was horrible. Where are we _going_?" Roxas whined with a helpless sigh. He pouted and tilted his head towards Axel.

"Keep your panties on straight, Roxy, we'll arrive shortly. I thought of something we can do," Axel informed him.

"Whine! Complain! Twist my panties around!" the blond moaned.

"Well, if you say so, Rox." Axel grinned. "Owie!" he cried out when Roxas socked him in the shoulder.

* * *

><p>"What are we doing <em>here<em>?" Roxas asked incredulously as they pulled into the parking lot of a Toys R Us store. He watched the droves of children still in their nice Sunday clothes drag their parents excitedly towards the superstore. Other children were leaving the store with their parents, some crying over not getting a toy they wanted and some extremely pleased and holding their bag tightly against their chests.

"Picking up supplies, Roxy. Don't worry so much, kid! Have I ever steered you wrong before?" Axel asked, grinning.

"Yes you have," Roxas responded, even though he knew he wasn't supposed to.

The redhead eventually found a parking space after driving through the lot a few times. Despite the fact that it was only a children's toy store, the parking lot had been completely packed. Children just loved to get their goodies on Sundays. Anyway, Axel was quick to exit the vehicle and become one of the children eagerly dragging their parents to the store, except he was dragging Roxas, not a parent.

People stared as two teenaged boys made a bee-line for the door. The taller one was pulling the shorter one behind him, trying to get him to speed up. Eventually, the one with the wild, red hair gave up and scooped the blond into his arms, quickly carrying him bridal style into a store meant for children under the age of ten.

"Axel, you can put me down now!" Roxas demanded, his cheeks red from all the attention he was receiving from the other store-goers. He normally didn't mind making a fool of himself, but being carried by the redhead was somewhat emasculating and just embarrassing. Plus, all the children were watching and asking, 'Mommy, why is that boy carrying another boy like a princess? Is he a princess?'

"Okay, okay, but come on! Let's play with some stuff!" Axel said as he hastily set the boy down on his feet. He hurried off in the direction of all the pink and shiny toys made for little girls. Roxas laughed at how quickly he immersed himself in looking through the toys intently as if he was buying a car.

When Roxas finally got over to where Axel was, he stared down at the toys the redhead was inspecting. The blond noticed they were My Little Pony toys and looked up at the redhead. Their eyes met for a moment. "What in God's name is wrong with you?" he questioned.

"What?" Axel wondered, clueless.

"Why are you looking at _My Little Pony_ dolls?" Roxas demanded.

"Oh, I see how it is," Axel put down the pony he'd been looking at. "You're in the pre-brony stage. I see. Well, let me tell you, Roxas, My Little Pony is the best and purest in entertainment. It's for all ages and genders. Now, don't get confused with My Little Pony in general, because I'm only talking about My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic."

Roxas gave him an incredulous look and took a moment to respond. "Are you a brony, Axel?" he wondered. He knew very well about MLP: FIM, but he was most certainly _not_ a brony. He was under the strong opinion that it was a show mainly for little girls.

"Yes, and I am very proud of it. The fandom is the best. My only complaint is that the toys suck." Axel frowned as he grabbed one of the toys and held it up for Roxas to see. "See, this is Princess Celestia. She's _pink_! She's supposed to have a white coat!"

Eventually, Roxas was able to convince Axel to leave the toys alone so that they could continue on through the store. Along the way, they had many sword fights that often ended in parents glaring at them disapprovingly for setting a bad example for the children. They also found a giant ball container, but Roxas knocked it over when Axel began to tickle him and he backed into it. They quickly left the area and tried not to laugh. Of course, eventually they were asked to leave. Axel managed to persuade the clerk asking them to leave to let them buy what they came for and then be on their way.

Roxas was a little surprised to find out that the only thing Axel wanted to get was a set of sidewalk chalk, but he was also very relieved. At least the redhead hadn't grabbed anything pony related in any way.

"What's the chalk for?" the blond asked curiously as they piled back into the truck.

"We can carry it around and draw and write stuff wherever we go. It's actually pretty fun," Axel assured him. He pulled the truck back onto the road and they were off to their next destination. "I've done it before with Demyx, but Demyx never draws anything except hearts and music things. He never writes anything either, so it's kind of lame to do it with him. I have a feeling that it'll be a lot more fun with you, Roxy."

They ended up in a shopping district downtown where many of the shops were outside and vendors were going crazy with their wares. Luckily, it wasn't too crowded, so Axel and Roxas were able to put the chalk to good use. They wrote little adages and drew small pictures as they went along. Of course, they also looked at all the clothes and did some window shopping. Since Roxas only had five dollars and Axel only had ten, they couldn't even really afford anything good anyway. It was an adventure, though.

Axel told Roxas about some of the myths and stories in Radiant Garden. Apparently, there was a well hiding somewhere in Radiant Garden County Park, but it was hidden by foliage. Legend had it that the well had been used by a serial killer to hide bodies, so the water at the bottom was red. According to the story, if someone ever drank the water, they would be overcome with power and lust and no one would be able to stop them from getting their way with whatever it was that they wanted.

There was also another myth about the fair that came to town every June and July. If two people who loved each other rode the Ferris wheel and got to the top together and kissed, their relationship would last a long time, but if the two people didn't kiss each other, they would break up within the next month or so. Axel thought that was bogus, but he refused to answer when Roxas asked why. His forehead didn't give the answer, either.

When they doubled back around to return to the truck, they saw that people were admiring their work. They laughed and joked about their work as they saw each drawing and word they wrote. Even though they'd done it all within the time span of about four hours, they'd forgotten everything they'd drawn and written.

"Anywhere else you want to go?" Axel wondered when they reached the truck for the umpteenth time that day.

"What time is it?" Roxas asked, even though he could've easily checked his phone himself.

"It's 6:13. Do you have to get home soon?" the redhead wondered. Roxas was probably going crazy, but he thought he heard a little disappointment in Axel's voice. Why would Axel be upset that he had to go home? They would see each other at school the next day.

"No, not right now. Hey, can we go get some ice cream or something? I'm _starving_!" the blond suggested.

"But you just ate most of my nachos! How can you still be hungry?" Axel demanded, sounding very offended.

"I am a growing boy, Axel! I need my fuel!" Roxas defended himself. He instantly knew he'd made a mistake.

Axel slapped that shit-eating grin on his face again. "Growing? I seriously doubt that, Rox. You're, what, 4 feet 9?" he teased. He reached over to pinch the blond's cheek.

"I'm 5'4", thank you very much!" Roxas huffed. "And I want ice cream! Or else snip, snip, snip, remember! Got it memorized?" He jabbed Axel in the side, making him jerk the steering wheel, which led to them veering sharply into the shoulder lane.

"Fuck, Rox!" Axel exclaimed as he hastily righted the vehicle, narrowly missing the divider on the freeway. He glared at the blond briefly before returning his eyes to the road. "You won't need to grow anymore if you're dead," he grumbled under his breath. Clearly, he was pissed.

A feeling of deep guilt entered Roxas' stomach and weighed it down like an anchor. "Sorry, Ax," he whispered after a moment. He looked out the passenger window so that Axel wouldn't see the way his eyes were welling with tears. Normally Roxas didn't cry so easily, but he hardly ever felt guilt, and when he did, it hit him like a ton of bricks. It was like the password for the lock on his tear ducts. Plus, he hated the thought of Axel being mad at him. "We don't have to get ice cream, it's okay…" Roxas muttered.

Axel didn't respond until a moment later when he chanced a glance at the blond. "Jeez, Rox," he sighed as he noticed the way Roxas' posture expressed his dejection. "I'm not mad at you. I forgive you." He put a comforting hand to Roxas' shoulder. "I'll take us to get some ice cream, but you have to cheer up, okay? Give me that smile we all know and love, come on now."

Roxas really didn't feel like smiling, but when he saw Axel's goofy, sheepish face, he couldn't help but smile. Axel just had that effect on him. "Okay," he said.

So the duo spent an hour and a half in one of the ice cream parlors of Radiant Garden. The joyful mood returned as their sea-salt ice cream was consumed. They finished the ice cream within ten minutes, but they spent the rest of the time talking and goofing around. It was nice while it lasted, but as Axel drove Roxas home, the blond began to understand why Axel was so upset that the day was coming to an end. Roxas didn't want the day to end, either. He really liked hanging out with Axel. It was so different than hanging with Zexion, and he had a lot of fun with the redhead. While Zexion made him feel completely comfortable and relaxed, Axel made him happy and amped him up.

When they parallel parked in front of the Strife household, Axel suggested they vandalize Zexion's driveway. Roxas couldn't have agreed more with the suggestion than he already did. He and the redhead were on their knees for a good twenty minutes to assure that they got the most of the space on the driveway.

Eventually, the fun ended, though, and Axel had to leave. The two waved goodbye, and then Roxas headed into the hovel, wishing the day hadn't gone by so quickly.

When Roxas entered the house, he could smell food. He was drawn to the kitchen and found that his family was all there. Cloud was setting the table and Sora was helping Tifa with the food. As soon as Roxas entered the kitchen, he was ordered to get everyone's drinks and set them on the table, which he did.

When dinner was finally served, Sora was unusually quiet, which would have normally alarmed Roxas, but the big grin on the brunet's face told him that it wasn't for a bad reason. Tifa tried to make conversation at the table, but with Sora drawn into his own little world and Cloud and Roxas being naturally quiet people at home, it didn't work out very well. Eventually, Tifa got Sora to speak.

"So Roxas, how was your day?" the brunet asked him. Luckily for the other members of the family, Sora seemed to have finally returned to Earth and was genuinely interested in having a conversation.

"Good," the blond responded simply.

"Mom said you went to hang out with a friend. Who was it?" he wondered. His eyes sparkled with intense interest.

Knowing Sora would get angry, Roxas said, "No one."

That sent up a red flag in Sora's brain. "No one?" He narrowed his eyes suspiciously at his twin. "What are you hiding, Rox?"

"Hey, Mom, did you know that Sora had a date today?" Roxas quickly changed the subject.

Sora's face immediately burst into flames. "Did not!" he exclaimed

Tifa looked rather pleased and excited to hear this. "You did, Sora? With who?"

"No one, I didn't have a date! Roxas is lying! It wasn't a date!" Sora insisted, shaking his arms wildly.

"Then why are you blushing?" Roxas grinned at his twin, knowing he'd won the battle. Sora was too easy to defeat that it almost wasn't funny. "It was a hot date, wasn't it? Didn't you say you really liked them? Did you hold hands?" he wondered.

Instantly, Sora was sputtering, but nothing he said made much sense.

"Wait a minute, did you two _kiss_?" Roxas wondered. He actually was genuinely curious about this, but his main focus was just flustering the hell out of Sora.

"No, we didn't! Of course we didn't! S-she's not my… type!" Sora fumbled. "We just hung out as friends! We're friends, and that's it!" '_Oh, man, I wish we __**had**__ kissed… Riku's totally straight._' "Anyway, what exactly are _you_ hiding? Hm? Did you have a hot date of your own with Demyx's sister… What's her name…?"

"Naminé. And no," Roxas replied, amused by his brother's tactics.

"Then why won't you tell me who?" Sora demanded, slamming his hands on the table.

Roxas shrugged. "You wouldn't like it."

"You had a _date_ with _Axel_?" he cried. His fingers were in his hair, pulling it out from its roots.

Roxas couldn't help but laugh at the difference between his and his brother's demeanors. Of course hanging out with Axel really hadn't been a date, so there was no reason to get all worked up, but compared to Sora, he was the chillest kid in the world. "Of _course_. I had a _very_ hot date with Axel," he said sarcastically.

Sora glared at him, completely forgetting his flustered state. "I am disowning you, Roxas Strife. We are no longer twins. We aren't even brothers. Goodbye, and have a nice life. I'll see you next never." With that, Sora gathered his half-empty dish with a humph and stalked away from the dinner table.

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><p><strong>AN: **Did you enjoy the chapter? Hmmm?

Yes, Axel is a brony. I am a brony, too, and I will call myself such even though I am most definitely female. I actually really like this chapter. It was a bit difficult to get into the writing groove at first, but after I got started, it practically wrote itself! AkuRoku will arrive soon, probably, but the next few chapters should be fun. I have plans. They will be a _drag_, -hinthint-. Actually, the next day at school will be very, very interesting and Marluxia will become a real person. I don't really know who he is yet, but we'll find out in the next chapter. That probably sounds weird to people who don't write.

If you liked the chapter, you can review and alert and fave. It makes my heart tingle. It makes me want to write all the things. All the things, I will write them.

Anyway, I must go finisheth my art assignment in which I drew horse soldiers riding men. It is interest. Okay, enjoy the rest of your day/week/life~!

X's and many, many O's. XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX~!


	12. Ice King Means Big Nerd

**A/N: **I am horribly sorry that this took so long to put out! I effectively broke my fanfiction account on accident. I use hotmail for my account's email address and I accidentally pressed 'Unsubscribe from sender' or w/e the option is and no matter what I try, I can't get my account back on track. I've addedto my contact list, checked spam folder, changed email accounts multiple times, and sent a message to customer service or w/e (of course, I'm not receiving any emails from them anyway, so who knows if they've replied). I know my accounts not working because on my last update, I did receive reviews, but I didn't get any emails alerting me of it. I didn't even get an email telling me that the story had been updated. If anyone knows how to fix this, send me a note and maybe I'll get it if I'm lucky Dx I don't know if my account still has the ability to receive notes, so who knows!

I was hoping to get all this sorted out before posting another chapter, but that doesn't look like it will happen for a while. Hopefully this will hold you over. It's a little longer than most of the other chapters, so you are welcome.

Thanks for the reviews and if anyone alerted or faved, I wouldn't know, but thanks if you did! Please enjoy this installment!

Kingdom Hearts © Disney and Enix

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><p>It was warm in the bathroom, and the mirror had fogged over with the heat. There was silence in the air, save for the sound of the few drops from the bathtub's faucet that had made it late to the party. The only other sound was the occasional shifting of water, which could have been relaxing, but the constant and sporadic <em>drip… drip… drip…<em> made it less so.

Roxas was submerged up to his nose in hot water and struggling to keep his eyes opened. He didn't realize that spending the day with Axel had been so taxing. He _was_ pretty excited when he'd been with the redhead. Plus, they'd done a lot of walking, and Roxas hardly ever got any exercise.

Suddenly the door slammed open and then shut, scaring the crap out of the blond. Sora was in the bathroom and holding the crotch of his pants tightly.

"Sora!" Roxas wanted to roar, but it came out as an embarrassed cry. The clear water did nothing to hide his manly bits, so he used his hands. "Why the hell are you here?"

Sora was hopping around in the middle of the room trying to get his zipper down. "Oh, shut up! We have the same parts, especially since we're twins and all! I _really_ have to pee!" He finally broke through his zipper and relieved himself with a contented sigh.

"You couldn't have used Mom and Dad's bathroom?" Roxas grumbled, still feeling embarrassed by this invasion of privacy, even though Sora had a good point. Plus, it wasn't like Sora was a lecherous brother that always tried to get him into revealing clothing. On the contrary, they were fairly protective of each other's respect and image.

"Nope!" Sora chirped as he flushed the toilet and then proceeded to wash his hands. "Their door was locked and I heard… noises…" He shuddered. "I do not understand them…" he muttered.

"Me neither. Now get out, asshole," Roxas demanded.

"I might as well brush my teeth since I'm here. I kind of like spending time together with you like this, Roxy!" Sora exclaimed. He began fishing in the medicine cabinet for the tube of toothpaste. "I only wish I was naked too, you know? Put us on equal ground."

"Please don't get naked," the blond requested in a fearful voice.

Sora grinned over at his twin. "I _won't_! It's not that I want to see your junk or you to see my junk. It's more like… You never have a better bonding experience than when you let it all hang out. Literally! Like, there's nothing to hide, you know what I mean?" he wondered through a mouth full of foamy, minty toothpaste.

"You never truly know a man until you've seen his penis, Sora," Roxas stated very matter-of-factly.

Sora burst out laughing and ended up choking on his toothpaste and spitting all over the mirror above the sink. He dropped his toothbrush into the sink and continued laughing his ass off. With a hand clutched to his side, he leaned over and shook with his laughter.

"Don't hurt yourself!" Roxas cautioned, mildly worried about his twin.

"Oh, Roxas!" Sora cried through laughing tears. "Oh my _god_, Roxas! That was _hilarious_!" he sang. He wiped at his eyes when he finally calmed down and was reduced to chuckles. "That was great…" he sighed. "I'll hurry up so you can finish your bath. I bet you're all prune-like and such."

About twenty minutes later, Roxas entered his room to find that Sora was lying out on _his_ bed reading a _Men's Health_ magazine he'd probably stolen from Cloud. It didn't look like he was actually reading the articles. Instead, he was just admiring all the buff guys without shirts.

"Sora, why are you in _my_ bed?" Roxas demanded, actually a bit amused that Sora was now so open at simply ogling buff guys around him.

"Roxas! Come here, I want to tell you all about my magical day with Riku! It was _awesome_!" Sora called, ignoring his twin's question. Instead, he put down the sexy magazine, scooted over in the bunk, and patted at the empty space.

So Roxas lay there with Sora as he spun a very gushy tale about how Riku was such a gentleman until the brunet finally described the events of the day. Of course, being the spastic, excited boy that he was, Sora tended to go off on tangents about how hot Riku looked or how he had slyly pretended he didn't notice when his V-neck was lopsided so that it showed off all of one of his shoulders even though he totally had and how Riku had to have had a boner because he kept drinking his water like he was super hot.

Despite these detours, Sora did paint an excellent picture of the events, even though he was clearly making it more glamorous and marvelous than it had actually been. They had gone to one of the malls in Radiant Garden and walked around doing some window shopping and eating fatty foods. They spent a lot of time in the arcade there, where they'd played a worn-out Galaga machine, DDR, Tekken, and Air Hockey. Apparently, Riku was a god at video games and Sora had like no chance, but "Riku had been totally sweet and a cool guy and let him win a couple rounds of everything because he was so gentlemanly like that."

Towards the end of Sora's story, though, it took a turn for the worst. Riku had received a call some time towards the end of their not-date, as Sora put it, and it sounded like a girl was on the other end. Apparently, they exchanged "I miss you's" and "No I miss you more's." Sora looked like he was fighting back tears as he explained this, and Roxas had to comfort him a few times. The blond felt so bad, especially when Sora explained that the hardest part of the whole situation was trying to act normal afterwards. He hadn't asked who had been on the phone, convinced that it was Riku's girlfriend. He hadn't wanted to hear that, so he didn't ask.

Roxas tried to convince Sora that since he hadn't asked who was on the phone, it could've been anyone. Sora tried to put on a happy face, but Roxas could tell that he was utterly unconvinced.

Eventually the twins were settling down to sleep and all Roxas could think about was Axel. He couldn't wait to see the redhead. Something about his pure existence made the blond ultra happy. He could tell this was the beginning of a beautiful bromance, and he could hardly wait to go skipping through a cliché gay meadow of flowers with mountains on the horizon with him. This was sure to be an awesome friendship.

* * *

><p>"Where the fuck is everyone?" Roxas whined, slapping his hands against his thighs in a frustrated fashion. It was currently 7:40AM on Monday morning and the bell to go to class had rung. Roxas had been waiting at the vending machines for a good fifteen minutes and no one had showed up. Zexion had texted the blond sometime during the night telling him that he wasn't going to school that day because he had something of an appointment that would keep him busy for the entire day, so not even the bluenette was there.<p>

Then, strangely enough, Naminé wasn't there in second period. Feeling weird that he hadn't seen anyone all day, even in the halls, Roxas was a little reluctant to go to the vending machines during break. Still, he went there. To his surprise, Marluxia was leaning against the vending machines with his legs propped up on the ground. He looked really bored and fairly lonely. Normally, Roxas would avoid being alone with the pink-haired beast as much as possible, but something about the pinkette's demeanor made him feel obligated to do _something_.

"Hey, Marly," Roxas called as he forced his legs to trudge over to the senior, despite his brain telling him to turn tail and run.

Marluxia immediately looked up at him with blue eyes that Roxas hadn't even known he had. "Oh, I forgot about _you_," he scoffed, crossing his arms. He looked down at the floor between his legs. '_Damn you for giving me hope._'

"Oh, _thanks_," Roxas responded sarcastically. "Where is everyone?"

"Gone."

"Gone?"

Marluxia looked up at Roxas again. '_I guess I'll cut him __**some**__ slack._' "All the juniors are on some fieldtrip, so that's why Axel and Demyx aren't here, Zexion didn't show up today, but don't ask me why, Larxene ditched because she's having sex with some guy who's like fifty years older than her, I'm exaggerating of course, and Naminé is on a fieldtrip for her little art club. I forgot that _you_ were part of the group now," the pinkette explained.

"Oh." Roxas stood there awkwardly looking down at Marluxia. Finally, the older boy sighed and patted the spot next to him.

"Come sit next to Papa Marly, kid," he said.

The blond did as he was instructed and mimicked Marluxia's seating position with his legs out in front of him. "So why didn't you just decide to ditch if you knew no one was going to be here?" Roxas wondered.

Marluxia looked at him for a long while. '_I guess he's pretty harmless. I kinda like this kid if I think about it. He's not as irritating as I had imagined him to be_.' "If I have one more unexcused absence this semester, I'll have to either take summer school or repeat a semester next year and become a super senior. My mother, bless her heart, is a horrid wretch who doesn't understand that lying to the school sometimes about me being sick is perfectly alright and perfectly normal. I can't bullshit her like I used to. She stopped using regular thermometers and started threatening me with rectal thermometers after I faked being sick like three different times in one month with that old trick where you heat up the thermometer beforehand. I _wish_ I didn't have to be here!"

The fact that Marluxia talked a mile a minute didn't really surprise Roxas, but he found it hard to keep up and actually understand what he was saying. "Oh, well that sucks. Sorry that I'm the only one here today… I know I'm not exactly your favorite person. I'm just the stupid new kid…" the blond murmured. He was glad that the pinkette didn't hate his guts, but that didn't mean that he liked him.

Marluxia crossed his arms over his chest and glanced over at Roxas, a disappointed expression on his face. "Well, that's not the type of attitude I want to be around. If you're going to be alone with me the entire day, you must learn that I can't stand negative attitudes! So perk up and grow some cojones, muchacho!" Marluxia informed him.

"Okay," Roxas gave him a smile.

"I mean, honestly," Marluxia began inspecting his fingernails as he said this, "I don't know why you're so afraid of me! Sure, I might have some muscle tone because I work out often, and sure, I might have a beautiful, pink mane, but it's _pink_, for goodness' sake! That should prove to you more than anything that I'm a gentle giant!"

The blond shrugged. "Sorry, it's just that I don't know much about you. Plus, almost stealing my lunch the first day I came to sit with you guys didn't exactly give me a good impression of you," he explained.

Marluxia stopped for a moment. "Oh, dear, I had _completely_ forgotten about that! I am terribly sorry! Sometimes I simply go along with Larxene's evil schemes because they're fun. It was nothing personal, I assure you!"

Roxas shrugged once again. "Whatever, it's cool."

"No! You can never say 'whatever' around me! Is that clear? I simply hate that word! It's an awful word…"

"Oh, sorry!" the blond hastily apologized.

The pinkette sighed and looked down at his hands. "I suppose we just don't know much about each other. That's alright, we can learn about each other! You know, one time I showed up at a party that a friend of mine threw, no one you know, of course, and I didn't know a single soul there aside from the host! Of course, being the charismatic and daring person that I am, by the end of the evening, I made sure that everyone simply _hated_ me! It was quite fun, but that friend still has never talked to me again to this day."

Roxas stared at Marluxia for a moment trying to figure out why the pinkette had shared that story with him. "What does that have to do with anything?" he wondered aloud.

"That I have no trouble meeting people, of course! In order to get people to simply hate you, you must know how to push their buttons. My point is that getting to know each other will be no problem whatsoever! To aid us in this task, let's play a question game, alright?"

"Okay, I'll play. Are there any rules?" the blond wondered. He was very unsure if he really wanted to get to know Marluxia better, but there was something about the way his voice flowed in a deep masculine tone, yet musically in a feminine way at the peaks of his words. It just made Roxas want to continue talking to him.

"Yes, there are a few rules, though it's more like a set of instructions. Firstly, you must answer every question truthfully. If you seriously do not want to answer a question, you have two opportunities to pass on your turn each game. The duration of each game is determined by the players, but for us, let's just say… for the next month, so choose your passes wisely. A question may not be asked twice, even if the player passed on the question before. The person who exhausts all their passes and then refuses to answer a question will have to submit to the will of the winner, no matter what the penalty is. After someone loses, the game starts over and you once again have two available passes. Sound good?"

Roxas nodded. "Yeah, okay. You can go first if you want."

"Alright, I'll start with some small questions in that case. Why did you move to Radiant Garden?" the pinkette asked.

"My mother got offered a raise if she transferred here, and my dad got laid off before that, so we really needed the money, and yeah." Marluxia hummed in reply and then prompted Roxas to ask him a question, so Roxas tried to think of one. "Umm… How long have you lived here?"

"Since I was born. I've been living here all my life. How do you like it here?"

Roxas shrugged a bit. "It's nice, I guess. It's just so different, you know? I went from a beautiful island to a busy city. So how did you become friends with everyone?"

Marluxia laughed a bit at this. "Well, Larxene and I met in pre-K, but we didn't like each other very much because she always tried to bully me. We ended up being in the same kindergarten and first grade classes, and the other children started to make fun of us and say that Larxene had a crush on me since she always bullied me. I was actually a bully, too, so I wasn't affected by her at all. Eventually, all the kids in our class cornered us when the teacher had to leave for a bit. They forced us to kiss, and, well, kissing Larxene changes a person, I'll tell you that!" '_She turned me gay, for Christ's sake!_'

"Ever since then, we've been the best of friends. When Larxene and I were best friends we were each other's only friend. It's sad, I know. When we were in fourth and fifth grade, we'd taken to bullying Demyx and Axel. We didn't think at the time that we'd ever grow to be friends, let alone how close of friends we are now! When Larx and I were in eighth grade and Dem and Ax were in seventh, we began talking and we became cool with each other. Our friendship grew from there. When eventually the four of us were in high school, Naminé and Zexion came into the picture. We met Nami because of Demyx, of course, and Zexion moved here in eighth grade. Naminé and Zexion were like friends, so if we were at Demyx's house, Naminé and Zexion were always there. We've been a group since then, pretty much, well, at least until you came along," Marluxia concluded.

Before Roxas could say anything in reply, however, Marluxia continued on. "Actually, Larx and I didn't like Zexion very much when we first met him. He was way too serious for us, so we always screwed around with him. You know, Roxas, the more I talk to you, the more I find that I really do like you. You're very cute. I was under the impression that you'd be like Zexion, since he is the one who introduced you to the group. I didn't want to deal with another serious, brooding child. I really shouldn't have counted you out like that. Plus, since you've been here, Zexion's mood has greatly improved. I've never seen him smile so much before you came. You've really boosted his confidence."

Roxas was a bit surprised at Marluxia's confession. Although Roxas could read truths, Marluxia was so erratic that the ability almost didn't work. It was like he didn't even think of what he said, and it sounded like he really didn't. There weren't many people who were able to speak so coherently without thinking about it. He found that he liked that about the pinkette. Too many surprises were spoiled for him growing up because of his ability. It was nice that there was someone who could surprise him so easily. "I think I misjudged you, too, Marluxia. I thought you'd be a complete jerk, especially from what I've heard from… other people. You aren't as bad as I thought."

Marluxia grinned at the blond. The bell for class rang and Marluxia looked a bit disappointed. "Alright, Roxas, this has been a productive morning. Meet me at my locker at lunch. It's in the F wing. Wait, where's your fourth period class?" he wondered.

"The D wing. I can meet you at your locker pretty easily." Roxas informed him.

Marluxia nodded as the two of them stood up. "Alright, I'll probably arrive before you, but if I don't, it's locker number 1113. Toodeloo, Roxas!" With that, the pinkette was gone down the hall.

Roxas smiled as he watched the senior prance out of the lounge area. It was so obvious that Marluxia was gay that, had Roxas ever paid him any attention, he would've figured it out even before his forehead gave it away. Flamboyant gays were always fun.

* * *

><p>When lunch rolled around, Roxas was eager to reach Marluxia's locker. He wanted the merriment to continue as soon as possible. He ended up arriving there just before Marluxia, early enough to catch the pinkette prancing towards his locker with his head held high as he stopped periodically along the way to talk to random people and say hello. Something about the scene stuck in Roxas' brain, and Marluxia seemed to him like the coolest person in the world. He'd never seen anyone so confident and strong before. Marluxia reminded him of a powerful lion. It was weird to think that, Roxas mused.<p>

Finally, Marluxia approached the blond. "Sorry that I took so long, I really had intended on beating you here, but I got held up a bit," the pinkette apologized with a smile on his face that said he wasn't sorry at all.

"It's cool, I wasn't waiting long. So what's on the agenda? More of that game?" Roxas wondered, feeling much like a puppy that was greeting his master after he arrived home from working all day. He couldn't help it, though; he was captivated by Marluxia's charm.

The pinkette grinned at him as he fiddled with his combination lock. "Why, of course! I believe that it is my turn. So… Hmmm," he paused for a moment to think, "What did you do this weekend?" he asked. They were now headed to Roxas' locker.

A smile automatically graced the blond's face as he remembered the wonderful weekend he'd had. "On Saturday I had to go to the swim team's barbeque because my brother's on the team. Demyx and Axel were there, so I hung out with them, and then we went to Zexion's house when it was over since Zexion and I are next-door neighbors. We watched a movie. Then on Sunday, I hung out with Axel all day," Roxas replied.

"Oh, _really_? It seems like you've taken quite an interest in Axel. Both times you mentioned his name, your pupils widened. Scientifically, it's been proven that people's pupils widen when they're talking or thinking of something they really like," Marluxia informed him. "It almost sounds like you have a _crush_ on him…"

Roxas didn't know why, but the moment the words left the pinkette's lips, his heart began to race and he was automatically on the defensive. "No, way!" he laughed in his much practiced, real-sounding laugh. "I'm not even gay. He's a cool guy, and I liked hanging out with him, but I don't really want to eat his face." '_Or do I?_' Roxas' mind countered. He didn't _like_ Axel, right? It was probably just the bromantical fumes stuck in his brain from yesterday.

"Alright, alright, I'm just messing with you. Come on, ask your question," Marluxia urged him.

They were just approaching Roxas' locker when they noticed that Riku and Sora were already there. Roxas didn't hear what Marluxia had said because he and Sora had caught each other's gazes. Something about it was a little awkward, but Roxas couldn't imagine why. He and Sora hardly ever felt awkward around each other.

"Hey, Sor," Roxas greeted, which was weird because he never called Sora 'Sor.' Sora was short enough as it was.

"Hey, Rox." That was when Roxas noticed the look on Sora's face and the deflation in his voice. Sora was completely upset, but trying to pretend to be okay. His eyebrows were furrowed and his ocean eyes were clouded with sadness. His lips were pressed into a straight line instead of stretched into an almost inhuman curve. His spiky hair even seemed to be drooping a little.

A surge of anger and protection spread through Roxas' veins like wildfire, and he glanced over at Riku, who kept staring at his feet, but then gazing up at Roxas ever so often. It seemed like he felt guilty.

'_I wonder if Roxas will blame me for how upset Sora looks. I almost feel like I really did do something. He hasn't been anywhere near as talkative with me as he usually is…'_

Roxas came to the conclusion that this was all about the phone call from yesterday. He moved closer to his locker, where Sora was now hiding his head inside. In his twin's ear, Roxas whispered, "Come on, Sora, cheer up! You don't even know who was on the phone!"

Sora simply groaned in reply.

Roxas decided to employ a different tactic that rarely failed on Sora. "If you keep acting like this, Riku's gonna get tired of you being all sad and stuff. He'll want to hang out with someone else, you know," he whispered so that only Sora could hear.

Sora removed his head from their locker faster than lightning. "Nuh-huh, that's not true!" he cried out.

"It's true, isn't it, Riku?" Roxas asked, glancing up at Riku.

The silverette looked confused, but said, "Yeah, it's true," after Roxas erratically nodded his head to say yes.

Sora glared that pouty glare of his at Riku. "Well then maybe we'd all be better off!" he shouted. His face was angry, but his voice sounded like he was about to cry. With that, he stormed off. Riku hurried along after him.

"That didn't really work as planned," Roxas murmured to himself.

"What crawled up his ass and died?" Marluxia wondered, surprising Roxas. The blond had completely forgotten that the pinkette was there.

"A girl, I think," Roxas replied, referring to the girl who'd called Riku. "Hopefully Riku can help pull her out."

"My _word_, that's a _horrible_ mental picture! She'd be covered in feces and blood and… _ugh_!" Marluxia shuddered violently.

Roxas couldn't help but laugh. He then proceeded to trade out his books, and then he and Marluxia were on their way to the lounge area. They arrived soon enough and plopped down against the vending machines.

"Okay, so my question. I just thought of a good one!" Roxas exclaimed. "Do you or have you had a crush on a teacher?"

Marluxia groaned. "I have a feeling that you have some even better questions to use, so I'm not gonna waste one of my passes on the first day… Yes, I have had and do have a crush on a teacher. I used to have a crush on my third grade teacher Mr. Cavali and now I have a crush on Mr. Price. You know, the science teacher?" Marluxia admitted, his face turning a shade of pink.

Roxas just stared at him. Vexen Price was the strictest teacher on campus. He was so horrible that his nickname was the Ice King (which Roxas thought was funny because of Adventure Time). In addition to being very strict and cold, he was also around forty years old. "Wat," was all Roxas could say.

"I know that probably doesn't make sense," Marluxia nodded.

Roxas interrupted him before he could continue. "Sure as hell it doesn't make sense! He's old! And mean! Ice King, remember? Big nerd?" Roxas threw the last one in there to be cute, but he doubted the pinkette would get the reference.

"He's not _that_ old! I know, he looks like he's really old, but he isn't! I did a bunch of digging and I found out that he's actually only like 27! And I'm almost 18, so it's not _that_ bad! Plus, I kind of like that whole aloof, cold personality of his. This is my third year with him as my teacher and I absolutely love that man. Honestly, I really do love him. It was love at first detention… And as for the nerd thing, I totally dig nerds! I find nerds to be very hot, Roxas."

"How is this your third year having him? He only teaches chemistry and biology!"

"I'm his TA, _duh_!" Marluxia scoffed. "I always try to seduce him, but he never seems remotely interested. I will tell you, Roxas, I have _tried_ and _tried_ to seduce that man, but it's like he is actually made of ice. He doesn't even care enough to yell at me! The only reason he even accepted me as his TA was because no one else was willing to, and he really needs help since he assigns so much work. To be honest, he's a large part of the reason I came to school today. I don't particularly mind failing a semester because I already have all the credits I need to graduate, but I _do_ mind not being able to see his beautiful face. And that _body_! What could he be hiding under that long, spotless, cum-colored lab coat of his? I wonder…" Marluxia began spacing out from that point with a look of intense wonder and pleasure on his face.

"Marly?" Roxas asked, to no avail. "Marluxia? Marluxia!" he snapped his fingers in front of the pinkette's face, bringing him down from cloud nine.

"What? Huh?" Marluxia wondered as he returned to earth. "Oh, my apologies. You mustn't get me started on Vexen again, I could dream about him all day."

"Ew! Grody! Call him Mr. Price or else I might throw up," Roxas teased.

Marluxia grinned and shoved Roxas playfully. "Cute boy, you are, Roxas. I almost feel bad that Mr. Price has my heart _frozen_ in place!" Marluxia started laughing maniacally. "Get it? _Frozen_?"

Roxas began laughing too. "That's horrible! You are a terrible person, Marluxia!"

The rest of the day was nice. Roxas was really glad he'd had the opportunity to meet Marluxia and get to know him. The pinkette seemed glad as well, and he'd been nice enough to drive Roxas home.

When Roxas left Marluxia's car and the pinkette drove off, he couldn't help but notice that there was a car in Zexion's driveway. In all the time that Roxas had been living here, he'd never once seen a car in the driveway. Zexion didn't even have his license yet. He only had his learner's permit, which was useless because his parents hadn't been home at all for the month and a half or so that the Strifes had been living next door. Roxas had a feeling that tonight was going to be _very_ interesting.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **Whelp, I hope you had fun reading this chapter, it was somewhat difficult to write because I wasn't really feeling Marluxia's personality at first, but I got into it eventually.

Something of a cliff hanger (oh teh noes!), so we'll see how that goes.

If you loved or hated it let me know in a review or in sexual favors, I do maintain confidentiality for those kinds of favors, or you could also leave another review and alert and fave. You can do all the things. I believe in you.

Um, love me? Kthxbai~3


	13. Minxy Things and Roxy Sings

**A/N: **Bonjour! Je suis rentrée avec un nouveau chapitre. Aussi, j'ai la langue française coincée dans mon tête. C'est un peu agaçant, mais tant pis. Ce chapitre est un peu plus longue que les autre chapitres, alors tu peu aimer l'amour plus. Oui, c'est passionnant, je sais. Je gâche la langue française. Je suis désolée.

Je n'ai pas pu écrire ce chapitre très facilement, mais je ne sais pas pourquoi. C'est un bon chapitre, je pense intéressant et il y a beaucoup des choses important. Euh. Je ne sais pas.

Merci beaucoup pour tout les review et les autres choses. (mon compte est encore cassé. Oups.)

Aimez-vous ce chapitre~ !

Kingdom Hearts © Disney et Enix

* * *

><p>It was around five o'clock when a knock came from the Strifes' front door. Roxas was helping Sora with some homework in the living room while trying, unsuccessfully, to watch TV at the same time. Cloud was in the home office doing who knows what, and Tifa had returned home not ten minutes ago. She was currently sitting back in the couch and watching TV in the living room with her two sons. She and Cloud would begin to prepare dinner for the family in fifteen to twenty minutes. The knock at the door, though, changed that all around.<p>

"Roxas," Tifa barked at him, "go get the door." '_It__'__s __probably __one __of __your __dumbass __friends __anyway._' She would never say such cruel things aloud.

Roxas did as he was told and headed for the front door. When he answered it, he was surprised to see Zexion standing there with two adults behind him at either shoulder. The blond was very confused. Were these Zexion's parents? The man sort of looked like Zexion, but the woman didn't at all. The man was tall and thin with black hair that was neatly cut. His features were soft, but his facial structure was angular, much like Zexion's. The woman, however, had strawberry blonde hair and a heart-shaped face. She looked nothing like Zexion.

"Um, hello," Roxas said uncomfortably, feeling weird about meeting the two adults' faces.

"Hello, I'm Mr. Corazza, Zexion's father, and this is my wife, Mrs. Corazza. We heard you were our new neighbors from Zexion, and we wanted to know if you and your family would like to join us for dinner in our home," the man spoke, his voice deep and smooth.

"Um, I'll go ask my parents. One sec." Roxas wasn't sure to leave the door open or to close it while he went to ask, but he decided closing it would be rude, so he left to the living room.

"Who was it?" Tifa asked him.

"It's Zexion's family, I think, and they're inviting us to have dinner at their house," Roxas informed her.

"We've been living here for more than a month and they're asking us _now_? These city-folk, I tell you!" She rolled her eyes, but turned off the TV. "Well, there's no sense in turning down a free meal. Tell them we'll be there in five minutes. I'll go round up your father. Sora, put away your homework, sweetie."

About ten minutes later, the Strifes and the Corazzas were sitting around the dining table in the Corazzas' kitchen. The table luckily had enough room for them with an extra seat. Mr. and Mrs. Corazza sat on one end of the table, Tifa and Cloud sat on the other end, and Sora, Roxas, and Zexion sat in the middle.

"We're glad you decided to eat with us! We really wanted to give you a warm welcome to the neighborhood!" Mrs. Corazza babbled.

Cloud and Tifa exchanged questioning looks for a moment. "You do know that we've been living here for more than a month, right?" Cloud asked. "It seems a little late to be welcoming us to the neighborhood."

"We would have welcomed you sooner, but we were away on vacation until late last night," Mr. Corazza explained.

That seemed to send up a red flag in Tifa's head. "You left your son here alone for an entire _month_ while you two were off on a _month __long_ vacation?" she asked incredulously. It was a very valid question, though. Seriously, who went on a month long vacation without their son?

Mrs. Corazza's eyes seemed to sparkle at the mention of Zexion. She gazed over at him lovingly, causing Zexion to glare down at his plate and stab a stalk of asparagus rather violently. "Well, our Zexion here is such a good boy. He refused to go with us, though we insisted that he come along. He said he didn't want to miss any school. Isn't that just the greatest thing? A student wanting the most they can get from school? Mr. Corazza and I allowed him to stay behind because he's a very trustworthy individual. Aren't you, my sweet little Zexy-pie?"

Zexion's glare intensified and he looked like he wanted to kill all the things.

The Strife parents exchanged dumbfounded looks while the Strife brothers tried to contain their laughter. Zexion sent the twins an icy glare, but his cheeks were pink.

"Zexy-pie," Sora echoed to Roxas in a whisper.

It was inevitable at this point. The twins couldn't contain their laughter completely and it seeped out, though they tried to keep the volume low.

"So, Mr. and Mrs. Strife, please tell us about your beautiful family! We'd love to hear all about you," Mrs. Corazza invited.

Tifa decided to field this question. "Well, we moved here from Destiny Islands because I got offered a raise to transfer here."

"Oh, that's nice. I've heard some really lovely things about Destiny Islands. I hear it's absolutely _gorgeous_ there if you go to the right places." Mrs. Corazza changed topics to Sora and Roxas, who were still snickering to themselves under Zexion's glower. "So you two are twins?" she asked.

"Yup," both Sora and Roxas answered at the same time.

"Oh, wow, that's just the cutest thing!" At that point, Mr. Corazza engaged Tifa and Cloud in a conversation while Mrs. Corazza was still focusing on the children. "So, Roxas, Zexion tells me that you two have become friends since you moved here."

Zexion looked up to the heavens and shook his fists in a physical display of 'Why, God, why.' The bluenette glared at Sora when he started giggling.

Roxas decided to mess around with Zexion a bit. It was no fun when all Zexion wanted to do was headdesk right into his dinner. He figured it was time for a bit of a smile. "No, Mrs. Corazza, we're not just friends," the blond said, giving Zexion a very special look.

Zexion's eyes immediately widened in alarm and he went rigid in his seat. '_I __will __kill __you._'

"Oh, you're not?" Mrs. Corazza seemed a bit disturbed to hear this.

"Nope, we're _best _friends," Roxas corrected her.

Zexion's shoulders slumped as he let out an inaudible sigh of relief.

"Oh, that's just the most precious thing! I'm so glad that you and my little baby get along so well! You two _do_ look like you'd be the best of friends, so I can't say that I'm surprised," Mrs. Corazza said in her bubbly tone. She lightly brushed her husband's arm with her hand in a subtle, loving way. "Honey, did you hear that? Roxas and our little Zexy are best friends!"

"Uh-huh, that's wonderful, dear," Mr. Corazza said without really looking over.

When Mrs. Corazza turned back to face the three teenagers, two of which were grinning at the third, she noticed something wrong with her precious Zexion's hair. "Zexion, your hair is looking a bit messy, mister. Go brush it out please," she said, pointing in the general direction of the stairs.

Sora and Roxas started giggling to each other again.

"It's fine," Zexion assured her, his face pink.

"Alright, I'll just fix it for you, then." With that, Mrs. Corazza proceeded to licking her hand and then smoothing out Zexion's blue locks.

"Stop it, it's fine!" Zexion protested, smacking her hands away. She persisted of course, which led to more objections from the bluenette. "Stop it! _Mom,__stop_!" he commanded.

Mrs. Corazza recoiled at hearing that and a dreamy expression overcame her face. "Aw, Zexion call me 'Mom!' Dear, Zexion just called me 'Mom!'" She turned back to Sora and Roxas and said in a very excited voice, "He only calls me Mom when he's frustrated! It's the cutest thing, isn't it?"

"Yes," Sora agreed, nodding his head.

"It really is the cutest thing," Roxas also agreed, thoroughly enjoying the show.

"Did Zexion ever call you 'Mom' when he was little?" Cloud joined in. The conversation with Mr. Corazza seemed to have ended. Tifa listened intently for the answer, curious as well.

Mr. and Mrs. Corazza looked at each other for a moment with soft expressions on their faces. Then they looked at Zexion, who let his head simply hang low, as if ashamed. When they looked back at the Strifes, every member of the Strife family was concerned about what had happened.

"Well, you probably may already have guessed but… uh…" Mr. Corazza stumbled over his words.

"I'll tell them, dear," Mrs. Corazza interjected, placing a loving hand on her husband's. "You may have already guessed, but I'm not Zexion's biological mother. I'm just his step-mother."

There was a silence.

"What happened to his biological mother?" Sora asked in such an innocent and curious voice that he sounded like a young child.

"Well, she began to lose her sanity over time after Zexion was born," Mrs. Corazza continued after clearing her throat, which suddenly sounded dry.

Zexion flicked his eyes up to meet Roxas'. Instead of looking away after a couple of seconds, Zexion continued to stare into the blond's eyes. His forehead was too full to make sense of any of the things there.

"She began saying these crazy things like how Zexion was always doing strange things. She said he had all these powers; that he could lift things twice his weight, that he could make her see things that weren't really there. She continued on like that, and without his father around often enough to notice, poor Zexion was subject to the way her mind lost itself. She slowly grew crazier and crazier."

'_This __is __what __I __did __to __my __mother._'

"Fortunately, she was taken to a mental hospital to be rehabilitated after a little… _accident_ she had with Zexion. She's still there today, and she's close to recovery, which is unfortunate."

'_I __did __this __to __my __very __own __mother._'

"As part of her rehabilitation, Zexion has to visit her twice a month so that she can receive counseling with him around. I really wish it didn't have to be this way. I don't want my precious angel pie to be subject to her insanity."

'_I __locked __my __mother __away._'

"While she was in the asylum around 9 years ago, Vince and I met and fell in love. We decided to get married, and now we have a happy ending."

Zexion's eyes hadn't left Roxas' once during his step-mother's explanation, as if admitting to him in every way shape and form that this was his fault. "She'll be out in six months." It was impossible to miss the delight and hope in Zexion's voice.

"Now, Zexion, when she comes out, I don't want you going near her," Mrs. Corazza warned him.

Zexion got angry very quickly, but only Roxas knew all the nasty things running through his mind. On the outside, he didn't look angry at all. "She legally has partial custody over me. In addition to that, you aren't home enough to monitor my activity, you aren't my real mother, and I will always love my real mother more than you," he said rather quickly in an icy tone. It sounded mild, but it was clear that Mrs. Corazza was very offended by it. She looked down at her plate sadly and everyone was awkwardly silent.

Of course, Sora had to break that silence.

"Is there dessert?" he asked.

* * *

><p>A little later, after dinner and dessert (because of Sora's request), the Strifes stood to leave. Being that Zexion was still upset, Roxas didn't want to ask if he could stay longer so that the bluenette would have some time alone to calm down. As Roxas was about to leave with his family, however, Zexion actually asked him to stay for a while.<p>

Thus, Roxas and Zexion ended up in the bluenette's room. Roxas went to lie on the bed, but Zexion stopped him so that they could both sit on it together. The atmosphere was a bit strange. Neither of them said anything, so they just sat there in awkward silence. Plus, Zexion refused to look Roxas in the face. He hung his had so that his fringe covered his entire face.

Finally, Roxas decided to break the awkward silence. "Zexion, are you alright?" he wondered, leaning down so that he could attempt to look his friend in the face.

It took a moment for the bluenette to respond, as if he was scared. "We're friends with benefits, right?" he asked cautiously.

"Only if you want to-" Roxas was silenced by Zexion's lips, for the bluenette had suddenly turned to face him. The blond, let out a surprised gasp, but it was lost in the way Zexion's lips captured his. He wasn't sure how long he and Zexion had been kissing or what exactly had happened, but when the two finally broke for air when breathing through their noses wasn't enough, Roxas realized that Zexion was on top of him, straddling his waist.

"Whoa, Zexion, you _are_ a minxy little thing, aren't you?" Roxas teased. "What brought this on?"

Zexion grinned down at him. "Perhaps. I just felt the need for stress-relief. I figured you wouldn't mind obliging me," he said with a small shrug that forced Roxas to grab Zexion by the shirt and continue kissing the shit out of him.

They stopped after a moment when something came to Roxas. "Is it okay that we're having a complete make-out session while your parents are here? What if they walk in? I don't think you locked the door… And even if you did, isn't that a little suspicious?"

"It's no problem. My father and step-mother both know that I'm gay. They're fine with it," Zexion explained and then proceeded to kiss the blond some more.

"Have they ever seen you with another guy before?" Roxas wondered, breaking the kiss again. This time, Zexion moved to kissing his neck instead of completely stopping, however.

"Yes, they have," Zexion said between kisses. "In fact, I was in a relationship until this last July."

"You had a boyfriend?" Roxas asked incredulously.

"Yup, his name was Lexaeus." There were more kisses. "He broke my fucking heart." And more kisses.

"Zexion, you have to choose one: kissing or talking," Roxas informed him, not appreciating not getting the full experience of either.

Zexion grinned at this, but continued to make out with Roxas in lieu of replying.

As they kissed, Roxas' thoughts vanished. His entire mind was engulfed in kissing Zexion, as if that was the only thing he knew how to do. It was fun, especially if he sent a hand down the bluenette's side and he giggled a bit due to his being ticklish. Because of this, of course, neither of them heard Mrs. Corazza climb the stairs.

Suddenly, the door was open, though, and there she stood, looking a bit shocked. Roxas only noticed her because of a little gasp she let out. He broke the kiss again, but before he could say anything, Mrs. Corazza said, "Oops, sorry to interrupt!" and then hastily left the room with a sheepish smile on her face.

"See? She doesn't care," Zexion pointed out, utterly unfazed by the intrusion.

"I guess. You're pretty lucky. My parents would hate me. Anyway, shall we continue, Mr. Minx?" Roxas wondered, making Zexion smile.

The door swung open again, and both Zexion and Roxas looked over at the entrance just in time to be rained down on with packets of condoms. "Be safe!" came Mrs. Corazza's voice from the already-closed door.

"Okay, now this is just awkward," Roxas said, picking up on of the condoms that had landed next to him on the bed.

Zexion chuckled and then the sucking of the faces continued.

* * *

><p>"Hey, Riku, what's up?" Roxas had happened upon Riku at school two days later. The silverette was in the library dejectedly slumped against a table as he absently drew on a piece of paper. It was currently fifth period, but at RGUHS, there was a program in place in which if you received enough points on tests and homework, then you could use that period for a study hall period. Being the studious, good student that Roxas was, it was his time for study hall. Riku clearly had study hall as well.<p>

"Oh, hey Roxas," Riku responded idly as the blond sat at the same table as him.

"Something wrong?" Roxas wondered.

Riku glanced over at the blond for a moment before sitting up and gazing at him sadly. "Sora hasn't spoken to me at all since Monday. He's blatantly ignoring me," he explained in a solemn tone.

This baffled Roxas. Sora had never ignored anyone before for longer than an hour, much less anyone he really liked. "Oh. That's weird," he said. "I don't think Sora's ever ignored anyone before that I can remember."

A bitter laugh escaped Riku's lips. "It's good to know that I'm special. Do you know why he's ignoring me? I feel like I did something that made him angry, but I don't know what I could've done… I haven't said anything mean to him or anything… I'm never mean to him, I promise," the silverette swore.

Roxas glanced down at the paper Riku had been drawing on and noticed that he'd filled the entire sheet of paper with hearts. The silverette tried to nonchalantly put away the sheet of paper, but Roxas could tell he was embarrassed and trying to hide it. "I know you're not mean to him," the blond said, not wanting to make a big deal. The only reason Roxas could think of that would make Sora upset with Riku was the phone call that he'd received while they were hanging out, but Sora wasn't _that_ childish. He thought back on the last couple of days, trying to remember if Sora had said anything.

"Sorry, but I'm not-" Roxas stopped when he finally remembered what he'd done Monday, telling Sora that Riku wouldn't want to hang out with him if he was so sad. That was probably what upset him. A bit of guilt made his conscience cry out. This was _his_ fault. "You know, you should really just try to talk to him," he suggested.

"You don't think I've tried? He's _ignoring __me_. He's not _talking __to __me_," Riku explained in an exasperated tone.

Roxas snorted in reply. "Just because he's not talking to you doesn't mean he's not listening to you. Anyway, if you don't want my help, good luck finding someone as knowledgeable as the guy who shared a uterus with him at the same time." He stood to leave, but Riku grabbed his wrist, stopping him.

"No, wait! I'm sorry, I'm just… I don't know how to fix this…" he murmured.

Deciding to be generous, Roxas took pity on the poor soul and sat back down. "Just talk to him. Tell him that you miss him or something. Sora's kind of a really mushy, emotional person. If you gave him a present, even something small, he'd probably forgive you. He's not hard to figure out, but he doesn't usually say anything if something bothers him. He can't handle serious confrontations like saying when he's upset," the blond explained. He wanted to say that Sora was much like a girl, but the thought made him feel like he was just pushing Riku onto his brother. Even suggesting that the silverette give him presents made him feel weird.

Riku looked a little unconvinced. "Are you sure that'll work?" he wondered.

"Yeah, it'll work. Trust me."

The two sat there in silence for awhile. There were still around 30 minutes until the bell rang, so they had almost the entire period to do whatever. It was a little awkward, but Roxas didn't want to leave because he really didn't have anything else to do so he didn't want to make it sound like he had better things to do than sit with Riku.

"So," Riku said after an awkward couple of minutes, "Are you getting along with Axel's group?" he wondered. "Before Sora started ignoring me, all he ever really talked about was you and Axel. He really doesn't like Axel."

Roxas shrugged. "I'm getting along with them pretty well. I know Sora doesn't really like Axel, but I don't care. We get along really well."

Riku smiled at him, and Roxas couldn't help but notice how charming of a smile the silverette had. Plus, his weird turquoise eyes seemed to glow with hints of laughter. He could definitely understand why Sora was so attracted to this guy.

"You know, you really fit in with them. Like, a lot. When I first started getting to know you, I had a feeling you'd hit it off with all of them," Riku informed him.

Somehow, that made Roxas feel really good. "Really?" he wondered eagerly, wanting to hear the explanation behind it.

"Yeah, totally!" Riku promised with a nod. "Don't take this the wrong way, but… everyone in that group has this strange… vibe, I guess, about them, like they know something or can do something that none of us knows about. And when I met you, you gave of the same vibe. I think you're perfect for their group."

The knowledge shocked Roxas. He'd never really wondered if other people ever noticed something different about him compared to other people. "I give off a strange vibe?" Did this mean that everyone in the group had some sort of power? It would certainly explain why he felt like he fit in so well with them.

"Don't take it the wrong way, but yeah. It's like… it's just a different vibe than other people give off. Like you know something that I don't. Like I wouldn't get it, which I probably wouldn't. I mean if you're hiding something, then that's cool, you don't have to tell me what it is, I was just saying," Riku explained quickly. '_Please__don__'__t__hate__me__for__saying__that._'

Awe overcame Roxas and he just stared at the silverette. He honestly had never thought others could perceive his powers. "Wait, so are you the only person that thinks this?" he wondered. Maybe Riku just had a little extra clairvoyance than most people.

"No, pretty much everyone does. If you ask anyone that knows anyone in your group, they'll tell you the same thing."

"Huh… that's interesting…" the blond smiled thoughtfully. He wondered if Zexion knew about this, because if he didn't, he'd probably be very interested in this. "Well I'm glad I fit in somewhere at least," Roxas said with a smile.

* * *

><p>After school was over, Roxas met with Zexion at his locker so that they could walk home together as usual. He was excited to tell the bluenette what he'd been told. It was both exciting and scary that other people could tell there was something different about them. Plus, if they were right, then that meant that everyone else in the group had special powers too. Roxas wondered what everyone's powers could be.<p>

Soon enough, Zexion showed up, and Roxas immediately told him that he had news to tell him on their walk home. The bluenette looked curious, but he said that it would have to wait because he wanted to go watch the swim team's practice.

"Why? 'Cause you want to see Demyx dripping wet in a Speedo?" he wondered.

Zexion's entire face turned red. "No!" '_Yes._' He glowered at Roxas in his embarrassment before turning his attention to his locker and opening it up.

"You can't lie to me, Zexy," Roxas teased.

"Okay, well, whatever, that's not the only reason. I usually go to the swim practices and hang out with Axel when my father and step-mother are home. I just prefer not to be around them. Watching the swim team will not only keep me from going home, it will also give me a little show. If you want to tag along, then you may, but if not, feel free to walk home alone," Zexion growled as he retrieved his books and slammed his locker closed.

"Nah, I'll go with you. You okay? You seem a little uptight." The two friends headed for Roxas' locker now.

The bluenette let out a sigh. "Yeah, sorry. I just get so stressed whenever they're around. They're my guardians and I know I should appreciate that I have them, but things are always just so much better for me when they're not around. I can finally breathe easily," he explained.

"Hmm, I understand what you mean. If you wanna talk about it, you can. Venting might make you feel better," Roxas offered. He hoped Zexion would accept the offer. He felt that he owed Zexion for being there for him when he and Sora had been fighting.

Zexion smiled appreciatively at him. "Thank you, Roxas." He paused for a moment, as if thinking of where to begin. During that time, they'd reached Roxas' locker, and the blond began to open it. "Well, you saw how my step-mother is with me. She's very… in my face and affectionate. That may sound nice, but it leads her to be very controlling. She has certain expectations and ideas of me, and she just treats everything so wrong that it makes me angry. She pretends that she understands me when she really doesn't. I don't mind that she doesn't understand me. In fact, I completely accept that she doesn't. I just wish she didn't pretend that she did. It really bothers me."

They were headed to the school's pool by this point.

"Does your dad bother you, too?" Roxas wondered.

"No. My father understands me better than Cheryl, and he doesn't annoy me that often. I like my father." Zexion fell silent as they entered the pool area. "I'll talk more about it later. I don't really want others to hear about my problems," he whispered to Roxas as they made their way to the bleachers.

"Hi, Roxy!" Sora's voice called from the other side of the pool. He was in his swimming suit waiting in one of the two lines in front of the pool. From the way the two swimmers were doing different strokes, Roxas could tell that they were doing freestyle training.

"Roxy, Zexy!" Demyx shouted from behind Sora. He waved wildly at the both of them.

Roxas and Zexion both gave small waves back before continuing onto the bleachers where Axel was laying out. He was lying on his back with his hands behind his head and his legs drawn up, one crossed over the other. It appeared that he hadn't heard Demyx or Sora calling out to Roxas or Zexion, and as the bluenette and blond go closer, Roxas could see that it was because he was listening to music.

Roxas stopped Zexion from sitting next to the redhead and gave him an evil grin. The bluenette gave him a confused look, but stood down. Quickly, Roxas shoved Axel from his place on the seat, causing him to crash against the seat below the one he'd been lounging upon.

Axel let out an angry growl as Roxas and Zexion sat down. His growl turned into a whimper when he saw that Roxas was the culprit behind this unfortunate event. "Roxas, why you no love me?" he whined. "I thought we were friends…"

"Well, that's what we get for thinking, isn't it?" Roxas said with a grin as Axel sat next to him. Axel pulled out an iPod from his pocket to put the music on pause, but the blond grabbed at the device so that he could see what Axel had been listening to. "_Elle __me __dit_? Really?" he said with a laugh.

"What? Pourquoi tu gâches ta vie, Roxas?" Axel wondered. "It's fucking catchy! Pourquoi tu te plains tout le temps?"

« Mais, c'est quand elle me dit ça qu'elle me dit un truc que j'aime, » Roxas joined with a grin. He actually liked the song too, but it wasn't necessarily something he'd have on his iPod.

Axel's smile in response split his face in half. From there, the two of them sang the chorus together whilst Zexion watched them with an unamused expression on his face.

"Wow, Rox, you have a nice singing voice," Axel commented once they'd finished. "You sound kinda like that one singer… Uh… I think his first name is Jesse?" He scratched his cheek as the thought.

"Jesse McCartney? I know, people always tell me that whenever I sing," Roxas finished for him. Still, even though he heard the compliment whenever he sang, he couldn't help the way his cheeks blushed. He didn't really sing all that often.

"You should sing more often. I've known you, what, like a month and a half and I've never heard you sing until now? That's a little silly, especially since you have such a pwetty voiiiice," Axel cooed as he pinched Roxas' cheek.

The blond swatted away the redhead's hand from his cheek. "I don't really sing a whole lot. Once a couple years ago, I was with Sora and my mom in a grocery store and I was singing. People were looking at me 'cause I sing kind of well, I guess, and my mom got really mad. She said I was embarrassing her and I always embarrassed her. So yeah, I don't sing too often anymore."

"Well, that's just bullshit! Why would she be _embarrassed_ that you have talent? Fuck that. It just sounds like an excuse to hate on you. Ignore her, Roxy, you need to sing more. Sing to me, child, sing!" Axel demanded rather animatedly.

"Eh, I'll pass," Roxas replied with a smile. "I'd rather watch Sora suck at swimming, thank you."

For the rest of the practice, Roxas watched the practice whilst he, Zexion, and Axel made up commentary as if they were announcers. Though Roxas kept up an outwardly happy mood, on the inside he was worried about Riku and Sora. Throughout the practice whenever they had a moment to catch their breath or they were waiting for their turn to do something, Riku would attempt to start a conversation with Sora, but the brunet blatantly ignored him.

This was sure to be an interesting issue to deal with. Or not. Either one, really.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **Okay, I think I'm done with French for now. At least until tomorrow or five minutes from now when I listen to Elle m edit. It's a very catchy song, as Axel said. I recommend you listen to it, even if you don't know anything about French. Elle me dit by MIKA. Yup. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter! As I said up top in French, alot of important things went down. It seems like a lot, lot, lot of things happened… Meeting Zexion's parents, Zexion's past and his minxiness, more insight on Riku as well as conflict and outside perspective on the little group topped off with the knowledge that Roxas can sing like Jesse McCartney. Which is actually a fact even in the game (though he never sings in the game).

I think from here on, I'm going to hone in on the individual pairings as well as throwing a bunch of other fun things into the mix. I think I may make Roxas and Sora fifteen so that way they can have a very fabulous birthday party. But then they'd be too young to drive… Hm… Yeah, probably not.

Did you like Zexion's family? I hope it's okay that they're OCs. I just really thought Cheryl was the perfect name for his step-mom. Agree? Disagree? I sort of made his past on the fly, but I actually really like what I can do with this now.

Anyway, I'm gonna go now. It's like 11:30PM on a Sunday and I haven't even started my hw yet. Oops. I blame homecoming (which was fabulous).

À plus tard~! Gro sbisous~!


	14. Disaster is Cuming lol geddit?

**A/N:** Hello, hello, it is that time again~! Not time for your period, sorry. Unless you're of the male persuasion. In that case, it's never time for your period. Regardless of sex, it is not time for your period specifically unless you are already on it or started it today, in which case, I'm sorry. Please don't go batshit crazy and enforce the stereotypes of women. Okay this is an awkward conversation now. I'm gonna move on.

Alrighty, so I have a somewhat important announcement that will go at the end of the chapter and yeah. Let's not worry about that right now. Right now, let us focus on the fact that I have brought you a brand new chapter with all the bells and whistles, ribbons and glitter. I feel weird today. Sorry.

TODAY IS MY BIRTHDAY 8D Yeah, it is for srs. I am a year older. And I still can't drive. I fail at life.

ANYWAY, moving on, 'ti'llcrycuzit'smybirthdaykthxbai.

Kingdom Hearts © Disney and Enix

* * *

><p>It was currently 3:45PM and the beginnings of twilight had begun to set in as the sun dipped its toe just beyond the horizon. The surface of the water was a yellow-ish orange in the light and trembled and rushed around with the constant kicking of feet and swooping of arms. A burly man wearing a sports blazer, the coach, called for all the swimmers to come out of the pool once they finished the last lap. The swimmers who were already out had to do 15 pushups before they were allowed to go to the locker room to shower and leave.<p>

Axel, Roxas, and Zexion remained in the bleachers as the last of the swimmers entered the locker room. Axel always liked getting rides from Demyx even though he was perfectly capable of driving himself around, so he had to wait for Demyx to finish getting ready. Roxas and Zexion decided to remain with him because they were actually having a nice time and lively conversation. Plus, Zexion really wanted to talk to Demyx, Roxas could tell.

Roxas felt weird about having a crush on Demyx, especially now since he'd made out with Zexion. It felt wrong to him. His feelings for the dirty blond had eased substantially within the past few days, but that was a good thing. Demyx sort of also had a crush on Zexion in return. Well, actually, when Roxas looked at the situation objectively, Demyx drooled over Zexion all day while the bluenette was too lost in a book to notice. Still, even if he ignored that, Roxas' ability ruined his hopes of being blissfully ignorant.

For some reason, Roxas forgot that Sora was on the swim team, so he was actually alarmed when his brother came out of the locker room talking with Demyx, smiling a very fake smile. Then the blond felt stupid for forgetting that. And then he worried about his twin brother. The fact that Riku was following them like a lost puppy gave Roxas all the information he needed to assess the situation.

"I don't know about that, Dem," Sora was saying as the trio grew closer. His voice lacked its usual excitement.

"It's totally true, I swear! Come on, you gotta believe me! You believe me, right, Riku?" Demyx glanced behind them at the silverette for support. The dirty blond huffed when Riku simply shrugged and looked miserable. "What is up with you two? You've been acting like this for _weeks_!"

"Lovers' quarrel, Dem," Roxas interjected with a grin. As he descended the last stair of the bleachers to the ground, Sora put out a foot and tripped him, causing the blond to face plant onto the concrete floor.

Everyone in the group fell silent. Sora just didn't do things like that. He didn't just intentionally physically hurt his twin. He wasn't malicious in that way.

Roxas was extremely surprised when he tumbled to the floor and let out a yelp. After he realized what had happened, he got to his knees and seethed up at his brother, who was glaring down at him. Quickly, he got to his feet and lunged at Sora, knocking the brunet to the ground and then pinning him there. He was able to get in one good punch to Sora's face before the other four boys intervened.

Axel and Demyx lifted Roxas from Sora while Zexion forced the blond to release the brunet. Riku pulled Sora up from the ground. Axel and Riku had to hold Roxas and Sora (respectively) to keep them from attacking each other again.

"You're an asshole, Sora!" Roxas snarled.

"Yeah, well if I get a black eye from this, Mom's gonna hate you for life! Maybe she'll finally kick your ass out of the house!" Sora retorted in reply.

The four boys tried to get the twins to calm down and stop yelling at each other.

Roxas laughed humorlessly at Sora. "She already _does_ hate me for life! And she can't kick me out. Dad still loves me. More than he loves _you_! He absolutely hates that you do swimming and he hates how spoiled you are. Mom always makes sure you get what you want, and it's made you soft, and that's what he hates about you! Even right now, you're so selfish! Only thinking of yourself! Why not try thinking of me? I tried to help you! Or better yet, try to think about _Riku_! It's not like _he_ did anything bad! The entire thing was _my_ fault anyway! Riku never said a damn thing."

Sora looked confused for a moment. "What do you mean it's _your_ fault?"

"For fuck's sake, you're stupid! _I_ was the one that said Riku wouldn't talk to you anymore! I was trying to get you to stop being so goddamn weird about the situation! I said it so quietly that he couldn't hear me. _He __had __no __idea __what __he __was __agreeing __to_! God, how are you so dumb?" The blond twin explained.

This did nothing to ease the situation and by this point, Axel was trying to drag Roxas away from the situation. The blond fought against him, though, and Axel wasn't strong enough to remove him.

"I am not stupid!" Sora growled. "You think you're so much smarter than me, but it's not true! You're so horrible! I'm no genius like _you_, but at least I don't act like I'm better than you just because I can do 100 pushups and you can barely do fifteen! _I__'__m __not __stupid_!"

Roxas laughed that bitter laugh of his again. "Please, Sora, I thought your last report card was a musical score!"

At that point, Sora broke free of Riku and sprinted angrily out of the pool area.

"Wait, so _you_ started all of this?" Riku wondered curiously.

After shoving Axel off of him, Roxas fixed his unkempt clothing. "Yeah, on accident. You didn't do anything wrong, Sora's just stupid." He straightened his hair. In response to the worried look Riku gave the door Sora had rushed out of, Roxas said, "Don't worry about him. He'll tire himself out. Watch, if we go to our locker, he'll be asleep. I'll bet anyone here five dollars that he'll be passed out at our locker."

No one took the bet, but they all wanted to see if it was true, so the group of boys all headed for the twins' locker. Sure enough, Sora was snuggling a textbook on the floor fast asleep. From there, everyone but Zexion grabbed a limb and carried him out to Demyx's car, who had offered to give the twins as well as Zexion a ride. Zexion carried Sora's backpack and textbook. When they reached the parking lot and Sora was situated in Demyx's car, Riku said his goodbye and then continued off to his own car, looking unsettled.

Roxas forced Sora to wake up once they pulled up to the sidewalk in between the Strife and Corazza households. The brunet was a little out of it, but he cooperated nicely if not a little slowly.

* * *

><p>"Sora, I'm sorry I caused the whole issue with Riku and for acting like I'm better than you," Roxas apologized to his twin. It was after dinner and they were getting ready for bed. Things between them had calmed down considerably since their fight, and Roxas was glad for that. He didn't need to get into another physical altercation with his twin.<p>

Sora let out a sigh and looked at his twin sadly. He was halfway through changing, pajama pants on, but shirtless. "No, Roxas, it's my fault," he insisted, "I guess I didn't realize that Riku hadn't heard what you said and he was just going along with it because you told him to. You were right, though. How can I be so stupid? Especially since you're so smart…" The brunet trailed off unhappily. "And I made such an idiot of myself today in front of everyone! God, I'm so stupid!"

"You're not stupid, you just didn't realize it. And it wasn't _that_ embarrassing. It could have been worse. You could have been naked," the blond offered.

Sora gave a small smile. "I guess…" His expression morphed back into an angry one and he pulled his shirt on in a frustrated manner. "God, but seriously! I made such a fool of myself! Riku's never gonna wanna date me now. I just completely soiled my nice reputation. I ignored him for like three days straight over something I didn't even know for sure! I'm such an _iiiidiiiooooooot_!"

"Well, at least you're cute," Roxas said with a shrug.

The brunet grinned a little. "I guess that's something." He joined Roxas in sitting on his bed and looked over at him with a serious expression on his face. "You know, Roxas, I kinda watched you and Axel and Zexion when you guys were hanging out in the bleachers and, well… Look, I don't want to fight or anything and I really hate admitting this, but I think Axel has a crush on you. So, just be careful, okay? That's all I'm gonna say about it, so don't you _dare_ ask me to explain myself! I don't like talking about the methods he uses to attempt to woo you…"

Roxas' eyebrows shot up. "Axel _likes_ me?" The words sounded strange and wrong. The blond was pretty sure they were just bros, but if _Sora_ said there was something there, then it had to be obvious. "Sora, I'm not just saying this to make you happy or whatever, but I honestly don't like like Axel. To be honest, I sort of like like Demyx…" the blond trailed off.

Sora gave him a weird look. "There are a couple of things wrong with you liking Demyx, Roxy. Number one," he held up his pointer finger, "Demyx is a lot like me, so it's kinda like you have a crush on _me_. Number two," his middle finger joined his pointer finger, "He's totally into Zexion. Haven't you seen his face whenever he spots the little blue-haired weirdo? It lights up like the 4th of July!"

"I know," Roxas rolled his eyes. "It is pretty weird, but I'm trying to stop myself from liking him. Demyx and Zexion are pretty much the perfect couple, so yeah. I'm not gonna try to go after him."

"Good." Sora's smile returned and he captured his twin in a tight hug. "Oh, Roxy, I'm so, so sorry I tripped you and whatever, but I feel so much better and relieved and I just love you so, so much!"

Roxas offered the brunet a couple of pats to the back. "It's cool. Sorry for punching you in the face and causing a problem in the first place. I love you, too. Let's try not to fight for as long as possible. It's really exhausting…"

* * *

><p>It was Monday October 10 at 5:00PM and a week after the fight. Roxas and Sora Strife were home doing homework together as they usually did while watching TV in the living room. Cloud Strife was watching TV with them trying to ease his frayed nerves that had resulted from his so far fruitless efforts at finding a job. Establishments wanted to hire younger, smarter workers. No one wanted to hire a 46 year-old who hadn't finished college.<p>

It was a relatively relaxing environment for all three of them, especially since Tifa Strife wasn't around. Even though Roxas was the only one she disliked, it created tension throughout the entire household when she ordered him around. Sora and Cloud didn't agree with her treatment of Roxas, but there was little they could do to ease the situation. Luckily, she was working late that evening and the three men of the household had a chance to just relax together and have some nice father-son time.

There was a knock at the door, interrupting the silence that had previously been present in the living room aside from the TV's low volume. Cloud opted to be the one to answer the door, so he went off to see who it was. Just a few seconds later, the Strife household was invaded by Demyx and Marluxia, who had pushed their way past Cloud and into the living room with excited looks on their faces.

"Marluxia, Demyx, why are you guys here?" Roxas quirked and eyebrow as Cloud came into the living room as well, confusion on his face. He leaned against a wall with his arms crossed and watched the two curiously.

"Hi, Sora, hi Roxas!" Demyx greeted with a smile and a wave. "We were at Zexion's house and so we thought we should come over and say hi!"

Sora returned the greeting enthusiastically.

Roxas didn't say hello. Instead, he tilted his head in confusion. "Where's Axel? Isn't he like your shadow, Demyx?"

"Yes, yes, he's still at Zexion's house, he's hiding out there because he's afraid of being castrated by Sora," Marluxia answered for him, causing Sora to laugh. "Anyway, that isn't the only reason we're here. Come on, get up, we're going to Demyx's house to have a group meeting."

"Why?" Roxas asked.

Marluxia gave him a weird look, as if the answer was obvious "Well, you're part of the group now, so it's only natural that you attend."

"No, not that, I meant what's the group meeting for?"

Demyx and Marluxia looked at each other and grinned. "It's very important stuff. Top secret, you know. Now, let's go, come on, chop, chop!" Marluxia grabbed Roxas by the arm and then the blond somehow ended up being draped over the pinkette's shoulder and they were heading for the door. "Don't worry, Mr. Strife, we'll have him back before it gets too late and we'll make sure he's fed and bathed properly while he's away! Ta for now!"

That's how Roxas ended up in the backseat of Marluxia's pink Toyota Corolla squished between Axel and Zexion while Demyx sat up front with Marluxia. He was mostly silent, but couldn't help but notice how Axel's hand strayed from his own leg to Roxas' knee and then back again when the redhead got nervous. Roxas didn't want to believe that Axel really did have a crush on him, but the evidence was compelling. All the mysterious thoughts the redhead had towards him only made sense in the context of him liking the blond. It made Roxas feel awkward to be sitting there thinking they were just bros while Axel was trying to cop a feel of Roxas' skin.

The five teenagers must've been driving for at least five minutes because when Roxas opened his eyes next, he realized he'd fallen asleep cuddling with Zexion, who had also fallen asleep cuddling with him in return. Axel, Demyx and Marluxia were communicating in whispers and clearly didn't realize that Roxas was actually awake. The blond decided to run with it and pretended to sleep in the same position curled into his blue-haired best friend.

"Demyx, I'm telling you, it should be illegal to be this cute!" Axel's voice sounded.

"I _know_! Just look at them; all snuggled up together like kittens! I want to kiss their faces all over! Aww, look at them!" Demyx was swooning. "How are they so cute? I can't even…"

"Hey, Ax, since you're closest, you _should_ kiss them. They'd never know it," Marluxia's voice said. "Or at least kiss your precious little Roxy-bear," he crooned.

Highly amused, Roxas decided to awaken Zexion so he could enjoy it as well. He found that one of his hands was in Zexion's lap, so he squeezed the bluenette's leg until his eyes opened little by little as he was stirred awake. Roxas opened his eyes halfway so that the three other boys wouldn't notice that he was awake. After a couple of seconds, Zexion's eyes went into focus and Roxas held his gaze and gave him a small grin and winked before closing his eyes again. Zexion seemed to get the memo, and though Roxas couldn't see it, he grinned back and closed his eyes as well.

"No way! What if they woke up? How would I explain myself to them? 'Oh, sorry guys, you were just so cute that I couldn't resist'? Hell no, Marluxia, that's a horrible idea," Axel's voice sounded again. "I would rather stare at them in their cuteness."

Deciding to make them swoon even more, Roxas slowly drew up his arms to rest on Zexion's shoulders and he snuggled into the bluenette more so that their foreheads touched. Predictably, Axel and Demyx began squealing all fanboy-ish like. Zexion responded to Roxas' touch by drawing his own arms to rest on his waist. In addition to that, he let out a sweet little moan.

It took everything Roxas had not to begin laughing hysterically as Demyx and Axel completely lost their shit. "So cute! Cute, cute, cute!" Demyx whimpered helplessly. "I want to lick their faces! I wish you could've seen that, Marly! Holy shit, it's so _adorable_!"

"I can kinda see them in the rear view mirror," Marluxia responded.

"Maybe, but _God_, it was delectable! Demyx, let's jump their bones. Come on, let's just do it!" Axel exclaimed in a hushed tone.

"Aww, we're here," Demyx whined. "I guess all good things have to come to an end…"

When Roxas and Zexion pretended to wake up, they couldn't help but grin at each other, though their faces were both pink from being called adorable and such.

"Holy shit, Demyx, you _live_ here?" Roxas asked incredulously as he stepped out of Marluxia's car and into the longest driveway he'd ever seen in front of a huge mansion he'd only ever seen in magazines.

"Yup! It's alright as far as houses go. I don't like it very much, to be honest, though. It's half empty."

When the five boys headed inside, Roxas wanted to explore the house, but Demyx said he could do it later. Right now, they were having an important meeting. They ended up in what Demyx called the romping room, which had initially reminded Roxas of sex. The room had bouncy floors and shag carpeting as well as vintage couches with matching coffee tables. Instruments were hung on the walls on display as well as in cases spread about the room. There was also a grand piano on a higher part of the split-level room. There was a circle of couches and lounge chairs in the middle of the room. In the middle of the circle, Larxene and Naminé were sitting with their legs crossed. Seifer was also there, which scared the shit out of Roxas because he'd forgotten that Demyx, Naminé, and Seifer were all siblings. He was talking with Larxene and his little sister.

Seifer stood up and left the room via another door when he saw the five boys enter. He set an intense look on Roxas before he turned and left, effectively threatening him without words.

"Jeez, it's about time you guys fucking showed!" Larxene huffed angrily. "We've been waiting for like a half an hour!"

"Roxas and Zexion fell asleep in the car, so we decided to drive around and savor their sleeping perfection for a little longer," Marluxia explained as everyone sat in a circle crisscross applesauce position.

"Aw, I wish I could've seen that!" Naminé whined. But then she started giggling uncontrollably. "Marluxia, you'll tell me all about it, right?" she wondered with a knowing expression on her face. '_Poor__Roxas._' Very uninformative. Very.

"Alright, let's get down to business," Axel began.

"To defeat the Huns?" Roxas interjected, making Naminé and Demyx giggle.

"No!" the redhead exclaimed, though he grinned at Roxas. "To talk about Halloween. You see, Roxas, every year we get together and draw names from a hat to decide who gets to choose what we're dressing up as that year. We always dress up as a group, so congratulations on being able to participate in this group tradition. Nam, do you have the hat?"

Naminé produced a top hat from the couch behind her where it had been resting. "Here you go." She handed the top hat to the redhead. Then she tore out a blank page from the sketchbook that was resting in front of her.

The ritual proceeded from there. They all signed a little square piece of ripped paper and then put them into the hat. Axel took the hat once all the names were inside and shook it up to ensure that all the names got mixed up. He then allowed Zexion to pick the name, explaining that Zexion was the least biased of them all.

Everyone waited with baited breath as Zexion dug around in the top hat with his eyes closed. Finally, he produced a meticulously folded piece of paper with hearts drawn all over it. "Marluxia," he read aloud after unfolding it.

Marluxia gave a triumphant cry and then started jumping around the little circle. Everyone else was less enthused and they all let their shoulders slump in disappointment. "Oh, this is _perfect_!" Marluxia giggled. "Alright, here's what we're doing! We're all going to dress as drag queens!"

* * *

><p>After a very fun evening of hanging out and eating as much junk food as their stomachs could handle, Roxas found himself in the same position squished between Axel and Zexion in Marluxia's car. The only difference was that Larxene was in the front passenger seat instead of Demyx. He didn't fall asleep this time, still on a sugar high from all the crap he'd ingested that night. Zexion fell asleep again, though, and leaned on the blond in his slumber.<p>

The ride back home was pretty quick, a bit faster than Roxas would have liked. When they pulled to a stop between Zexion and Roxas' house, the blond was lifted onto Axel's shoulder the same way Marluxia had done earlier. The redhead carried him to his door like that, and then, to Roxas' surprise, continued on into the Strife household. Axel set him down on the couch in the Strifes' living room and ruffled his hair.

"What is it with your guys' obsession with carrying me everywhere?" Roxas wondered, his face turning pink.

"You're too cute for us to let you walk on your own. See ya!" And with that, Axel was gone.

The rest of the Strife family, who had witnessed the whole event, trained their eyes on Roxas, disapproving looks on all their faces. They'd all stayed up until midnight waiting for him to come home. If that wasn't bad enough, when Roxas went to check up on his Facebook he found a picture that Demyx had taken while he and Zexion had actually been asleep. It had 9 likes. Bastards.

* * *

><p>The next day during sixth period, Roxas asked his French teacher if he could "aller au les toilettes," and his teacher allowed him to go. He did his business, but as he was finishing up, Zexion happened to walk in. The two exchanged startled expressions, not expecting to see each other there. Roxas decided to be a good friend and wait for the bluenette to finish.<p>

"Hey, you wanna skip a little bit of class?" Roxas wondered as they left the bathroom and strolled slowly down the hall in the direction of the language wing of the school since both of their classes were there.

Zexion raised an eyebrow at him. "Oh? A little bit of class? And how much is that exactly?" he questioned with playfulness in his voice.

"As much as you want, really," Roxas replied. They were heading down a hallway now that had no lockers and no classroom doors in it. It was supposed to be for transporting the vehicles inside the school around so the groundskeepers could effectively cover the school without having to walk everywhere. Students still used it to walk through, though.

"And what would we do?" the bluenette asked.

Roxas grinned and shoved Zexion up against the wall of the deserted hallway. He captured the bluenette's lips with his as he pinned him to the wall. He broke away from their fervent kissing after a few seconds. "Sound good to you?"

Zexion just grinned and leaned forward to attach his lips with the blond's again. Within seconds, they were passionately trying to eat each other's mouths. Roxas' hands roamed up and down Zexion's sides while Zexion's hands roamed up and down Roxas' back. Eventually, what began as playful roaming turned into groping as Zexion grabbed Roxas' ass and Roxas rested a hand on Zexion's crotch.

They broke apart when they realized what they were doing in school in the middle of a hallway, albeit a deserted one. Their faces flushed as they walked down the hallway and to their classrooms.

"I hope no one saw us…" Roxas murmured.

Zexion hummed in agreement. "Let's continue later. We can go to my house if you like." They were nearing the language wing and would have to split ways in a matter of seconds.

"My house is better today. My Dad's going to this seminar for unemployed people or something at like 3 until 7 and Sora won't get home till at least 4:30. We'll have an entire hour and a half to fool around," Roxas offered.

The bluenette nodded as they finally went their separate ways.

* * *

><p>The minute Roxas entered his room behind Zexion, he closed and locked the door. When he turned around, his lips were attached to Zexion's much the way they'd been barely an hour prior. Their hands were on each other once more, exploring much like earlier, only now, there weren't any restrictions or any worries. They were free to probe each other's bodies as they pleased.<p>

Zexion guided them over to the bottom bunk and then relinquished the dominance he'd built up as he broke the kiss and laid down, allowing Roxas to climb on top. The kissing continued as did the groping. The groping was centered on each other's asses.

Just when Roxas was getting comfortable with the situation, Zexion lifted his hips and grinded against him, causing him to groan out of pleasure. Fear entered Roxas' bloodstream as he questioned if he really wanted to lose his virginity right now to Zexion. He broke the kiss and stared down at Zexion's porcelain face with uncertainty in his eyes.

"What is it, Roxas?" the bluenette wondered, sounding concerned with the blond's sudden change in demeanor.

"Zexion…" the blond trailed off as he tried to think of what exactly he wanted to say. He decided to go with a question. "How far have you gone exactly? With anyone."

Zexion tilted his head to the side a bit, causing his bangs to fall into his face more. "I'm not a virgin, Roxas. Are you?" he asked.

Roxas just nodded, making Zexion grin. "What?" he demanded, wanting to know why that was so amusing. Lots of people his age were still virgins! There was no shame in being a virgin. None at all.

"Nothing, I just thought it was… interesting is all. How far have _you_ gone, hmm?" Zexion questioned.

Roxas collapsed next to Zexion on the bed so that he wasn't awkwardly straddling him as they had a conversation. "Well, I've never exactly been with a guy before… I've had a few girlfriends, though. The furthest I've gone with them is third base. I'll tell you this, Zexion, I do _not_ like the taste of vaginal fluid. Bleh."

"So have you ever received a blowjob, or have you just been forced to lower yourself in order to keep your cover girl happy?"

"I've been given a few blowjobs before." Roxas shrugged.

A brilliant look overcame Zexion's face. "Would you be willing to 69 if that's the case? I'm assuming you were thinking we would have sex, but I would never have sex with you. Not that you aren't sexy, but I would only have sex with someone I'm in love with. I don't feel that for you."

Relief washed over Roxas and he returned to straddling Zexion in a millisecond with an impish grin on his face. "I'm glad you feel that way." From there, Roxas swooped down and continued to kiss the shit out of Zexion. The groping also picked up where it left off. The blond broke the kiss moments later so that he could bite down on Zexion's neck and whisper in his ear, "I'm scared of biting your dick off or getting my own dick bitten off, so would you mind it terribly if we take turns sucking each other off?"

Zexion's reply was a strangled moan and another grind from his hips unto Roxas'. The two of them began exchanging moans as the grinding eventually built into a rhythm. Hearing Zexion's voice whimper and whine pathetically the way it was immensely turned Roxas on and his animalistic instincts began to take over. He removed himself from the bluenette and was about to make his way down to his friend's member, but a hand stopped him.

Zexion winked at him and then slithered out from underneath him and onto the floor on his knees. He motioned for Roxas to sit on the bed, and the blond did as he was told, wanting desperately for the intense pressure in his lower abdomen to finally decease in a single moment of glory.

Roxas' moment eventually did come (pun intended) at the ministrations of Zexion's mouth. He accidentally came all over Zexion's face, but he didn't seem to mind. The sight of Zexion covered in _his_ semen made Roxas want to jizz on every part of his body, but he was so spent that he wouldn't have been able to get it up if he tried.

In the end, Zexion got revenge on Roxas in much the same fashion. The difference between the two was Roxas went the extra mile for his blue-haired friend with benefits and licked up and swallowed the cum on his face. Completely wiped out, the two cleaned themselves up and got rid of all evidence before they simply collapsed on Roxas' bed and fell asleep.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **Stuff happened and more stuff happened. And don't you worry, kiddies, there will be legitimate AkuRoku in the next chapter. None of this playful banter, maybe-they-will-maybe-they-won't shit. Well, except it doesn't exactly pan out right away. It gets fixed eventually, I promise! The Roxion is ending fast. Enjoy it while you can. And if you never liked the Roxion, rejoice for it is almost at its end.

Okay, so the somewhat important announcement is that I will be participating in NaNoWriMo this coming November, so it is write (lol geddit?) around the corner. If you don't know what NaNoWriMo is, it's National Novel Writing Month in which the goal is to write a 50k word story within the month of November. So one must write an average of 1.7k words per day which may seem easy, but it builds up. Anyway, this year I will be doing a fanfiction as opposed to my last to years in which I did original stories. The fanfiction will be a Zemyx fanfic that will be fairly by the book (IE no fuck buddies). If you would like to follow me as I make this endeavor, I'm gonna publish the story on here and update every Wednesday (because the last day of November is a Wednesday). I'll explain it more on the author's note in the first chapter when I post it.

Anyway, to compensate for this, I have worked super hard to write two updates in advance on this story that I'll put up during November. The only bad thing about this is that the chapters aren't as funny, but they're also more serious chapters and more plot-developing. I guess I really didn't need to explain any of this, but I thought you pplz would like to know maybe. Idk.

TL;DR: I'm doing NaNoWriMo with Zemyx story. Follow me. Updates will still be made on this story. Love me.

Also, you should read the Little Prince. Google 'Le Petit Prince English Translation' and choose the first link. It is beautiful. I cried all over my French assignment xD

So yeah, since it is my birthday today, you all should make me super happy and leave SO MANY REVIEWS THAT IT HURTS MY EYES. And my heart, quite possibly. I could be so touched that I have a heart attack.

Before I go, I pretty much just realized that I haven't even gotten Roxas to tell Zexion of his findings that other people knew they had powers. I will be sure to incorporate that into a later chapter. For now it is a huge ugly hole. All things will be explained. I got this.

Anyway, until next time~

Love, Raven~ –lessthanthree-


	15. This Can't End Well

**A/N: **Hello, hello everyone! This is one of the chapters I very quickly wrote before the start of November so that you lovely people would have an update as I attempt to complete NaNoWriMo. If you want to read that story (it is a Zemyx fic), I have uploaded it so you should read it because it hasn't received any love at all –sadface-

Thanks for all your reviews and support on the last chapter btw~! I really totally completely appreciate it and all your kind words inspire me so much it is, frankly, a bit ridiculous.

Anyway, as promised, this chapter _does_ include some AkuRoku. It doesn't start out as that, but no worries. It is there. I remember. I wrote it.

This note sounds so lifeless… I'm so tired… Bleh…

Anyway, enjoy this chapter you cool people you!

Kingdom Hearts © Disney and Enix

* * *

><p>Roxas and Zexion woke up at around five to the click of a camera shutter. It took a moment for either of them to gather their wits about them and finally wake up, but when they did, Roxas realized that Sora had just taken a picture of them sleeping together. Roxas tried to get out of the bed quickly to chase after his twin and retrieve the camera, but his leg had fallen asleep because Zexion's leg had been squashing it, so he fell over when he tried to step on it.<p>

"Sora, get your ass back here!" Roxas shouted as he tried to stabilize himself. The feeling finally returned to his leg after a moment and he continued to chase his twin, leaving behind a very confused Zexion. He heard shuffling from the office when he entered the hall and went to open the door, only to find that it was locked. "Sora, you open this goddamn door!"

Cackles seeped through the door. "You _wish_! This is going on Facebook, just like the one Demyx took!" There were more cackles as well as the sounds of Sora typing on the keyboard.

"I swear to God, Sora…!" Roxas didn't have a threat ready to go until a moment later when he shouted, "I'm gonna get you back for this! And it's going to be a hundred times better than some shitty little picture! Fuck you, asshole!"

There were more cackles. "Only Riku is allowed do that to me, Rox, sorry!" The door opened after a few seconds to reveal a very smug-looking Sora. "The deed is done." He looked so self-satisfied that Roxas wanted to tear one of his eyeballs out of its socket.

"I hate you so much," Roxas growled.

"Love ya too, bro!"

* * *

><p>The following day, Roxas and Zexion decided to skip nutrition to make out in the back of the library where nobody could see them. It was a good way to spend the ten minutes they both had after going to their lockers, and they were reluctant to pull away from each other when the bell to go to class rang. This wasn't the first time they'd done this, but this time they felt unsatisfied as they left, probably because they'd never realized how much fun they could truly have. The shyness they'd had earlier had sizzled away, especially after last night and they wanted to kiss for as long as possible.<p>

During his classes, Roxas couldn't help but think of ways he could torture Zexion. His brain was so full of the good feelings that lingered from last night, and he knew if this continued, he would likely get addicted to those feelings and eventually to the actions themselves. In his current state, though, he didn't particularly mind it if he got addicted. It was likely that Zexion was becoming addicted as well, so the two could turn to each other to get their fixes.

At lunch, Roxas wondered if he and Zexion should just go make out in the library some more, but decided it would be bad since they'd already skipped nutrition. Everyone would probably get curious, and Roxas didn't want to lie _too_ much. He could easily be caught in his web of lies. Zexion shared those sentiments, so the blond figured that the bluenette wouldn't argue with him about having lunch with everyone.

They were chatting about random things when they reached the vending machines. It was strange, though, because once they showed up, everyone went silent. They all watched as Roxas and Zexion sat down together, which made the two of them uncomfortable and confused as to what was going on.

"Hi, guys?" Roxas offered sheepishly as a greeting. No one responded and he felt even more uncomfortable. He and Zexion exchanged awkward glances. "What exactly is going on? Why isn't anyone talking?" he asked. That's when he noticed the somber attitude everyone had. His eyes caught Axel's, and he felt like he would start crying.

The redhead looked really upset. His mane was drooping and his eyes were green pools of bad feelings; betrayal, hurt, and anger. He was slumped over in his spot on the floor whereas he usually had better posture. Naminé's hand was on his arm, as if comforting him. His forehead was blank, and that scared Roxas most of all. It meant that Axel literally _wasn__'__t __thinking_.

Finally Demyx spoke up. He looked tired, more tired than usual. In addition to that, his eyes appeared red, as if he'd been crying. His hair and demeanor were much like Axel's, drooping and lacking enthusiasm. "Roxas, are you and Zexion… dating?" he wondered in a voice that was fragile as glass.

Alarmed, Roxas and Zexion exchanged terrified glances. "No way!" Roxas responded, though he was too flustered to say it convincingly.

"Why on _earth_ would you think that?" Zexion demanded, sounding just as unconvincing as Roxas.

"Well, Axel and I saw you two making out in the hall yesterday. And then the day before, you guys were cuddling in Marluxia's car, and then you were also cuddling in that picture Sora took of you two sleeping together. And then you were both gone at nutrition," Demyx explained. All of his points were valid pieces of evidence.

"Well, it couldn't have been me and Zexion in the hall because we were in class, right Zexion?" he looked to the bluenette for support. Of course he was more than happy to give it.

"Yeah, we were in class."

"See? It could have been two other people. And Zexion and I didn't mean to cuddle in Marluxia's car, we were asleep, after all. And then yesterday we were studying and then we fell asleep because we were really tired after school. Seriously, we're not dating." Roxas' words were more convincing this time around. The car incident really had been an accident until he and Zexion decided to screw with Axel and Demyx. And it was true that they weren't _dating_. They were merely exploring each other's sexual identity with one another. No feelings involved.

'_I __know __it __was __you. __Why __are __you __lying?_' Axel's forehead finally came to life. He turned his back to Roxas as his forehead said this and then continued to nibble at his lunch unhappily.

No more words were said. There was nothing more to say. If anyone disputed their explanations, they would only end up going in circles and then eventually start fighting. No one believed that Roxas and Zexion weren't dating. Axel and Demyx clearly were the most upset, which made sense. Roxas felt guilty, like he'd just ruined Zexion's chance with Demyx even though their actions had been mutual and Zexion knew the possible repercussions. He didn't feel as bad for Axel because he didn't have a crush on Axel, and the redhead had never really had a chance with him (was this the truth?). He hadn't betrayed Axel the way Zexion had betrayed Demyx (so why did it feel like he had?). It was complicated and shitty.

Eventually, Zexion became so uncomfortable that he left. Roxas followed after him, not wanting to be surrounded by all the negativity directed at him.

Once they were out of earshot, Roxas lifted his head from the ground and glanced sadly at Zexion. "I'm sorry."

Zexion didn't look up at him. "It's not your fault." His voice was weak with hurt. "At the very least, we never should have made out in school. But really, I should have declined your offer in the very beginning. Things like this always do tend to blow up in the participants' faces." He let out an uneven breath. "God damn, what the fuck is wrong with me…? I ruined my chance with Demyx over something so _stupid_. God, I'm fucking stupid…"

Roxas' heart grew heavy. "Do you hate me now?" he wondered softly.

Zexion looked up at the blond finally. He had an alarmed look on his face. "No way, how could I…? Roxas, this honestly isn't your fault. It's both of our faults, and there's no way I would blame you for this. You just wanted to make me happy… right?"

"Of course! I wanted us to both be happy. I mean, it was a stupid idea. These things never work out well… I don't know, I guess I just thought we were smart enough to handle it. We let our desires cloud our thinking. I don't know. I actually don't think it was a bad idea, if I think about it. We just shouldn't have brought it to school. We should have been more aware of the risks."

The bluenette shrugged. "I agree with you, I guess… It was good stress-relief. Well, until now, but I agree." After a long pause he said, "Well, we've already screwed things over so much, so do you want to come over and make out with me after school?"

Roxas started laughing, but he nodded anyway.

Zexion joined his laughter as well.

Oh, the irony.

* * *

><p>"You know what, Zexion?" Roxas got his friend's attention with his angry tone. "Fuck those guys! Okay, well not that harsh, but who cares what they think? We're sixteen years old! We're allowed to experiment! Besides, neither of us was dating them, so it's not like we betrayed their trust or anything."<p>

Zexion grinned at Roxas. Both of them were feeling a lot better now that some time had passed and they'd calmed down some. They were in Zexion's kitchen after school drinking tea. "You know, you're right. It is their prerogative to think that we are dating even though we clearly stated that we're not. And even if the evidence is compelling, our words should mean more than extenuating circumstances. Sure, we did make out in the hall, but that doesn't mean we're _dating_! And we were just sleeping. It is not our malfeasance that we happen to be extremely cuddly while asleep. Many people are, in fact."

"Exactly! And it's it not like it's the end of the world that Demyx might not want to date you. In fact, it's like a sign that it wouldn't work out because he doesn't believe you that we aren't dating. Trust and communication are key in a relationship. So, if he's not willing to trust in what you're saying, then how would that make for a good relationship at all?"

The two of them laughed for being so upset earlier. They sipped their tea and continued on like that. It felt good to put their problems in perspective. They were only in high school. They had their entire lives to find boyfriends, so it would only serve as a hindrance to dwell on the situation. As long as they were enjoying themselves, nothing else mattered.

"Hey, do you have any homework today, Zexy?" Roxas asked after they'd gone quiet for a while. It had been a nice silence filled with quiet chuckles and the sipping of tea.

"No, not really. Why?" he wondered with a smile on his face.

"Wanna go get some ice cream or something? My dad's home, so I could probably borrow the car."

In a matter of fifteen minutes they were on the road looking for a good place to get ice cream. They had to stop for gas since it was running low, but Cloud had given him $40 for gas and whatever else he wanted, which was very nice of him. Roxas didn't typically ask for much, so Cloud had no qualms over Roxas money and the keys to the car.

They ended up at an ice cream parlor called Cool Licks, which made Roxas and Zexion giggle inappropriately at all the implications the name created. They entered the parlor while they discussed important things such as Tumblr and memes. Zexion was deprived of internet culture, and Roxas was all too willing to teach him the ways of the internet. He was just explaining the Joseph Ducreux meme to the bluenette when he saw Axel, Demyx, Marluxia, and Larxene sitting at one of the tables.

Startled, he stopped talking and the two groups stared at each other awkwardly. Roxas and Zexion looked at each other before slowly making their way over to their friends.

"Hey, guys," Roxas said quietly. The awkwardness in the air could be cut with a knife.

"Okay, seriously, don't give us some bullshit answer; are you guys dating or not?" Larxene demanded immediately.

"No, we aren't dating," Roxas replied.

Zexion looked Demyx right in the eyes. "Roxas and I are not dating and we never will date. We're best friends, but no more than that," he said with an honest expression on his face. "But if you guys won't believe us, then… then…"

"Then fuck all of you," Roxas finished for him. He studied the faces of all his friends. They looked mildly surprised, but relieved at the same time. Demyx's natural smile returned to his face, but Axel looked a little less convinced. Marluxia and Larxene went back to eating their ice cream.

"Okay, we believe you!" Demyx exclaimed.

"How did you guys even get here, anyway? It's kinda far from your neighborhood…" Axel wondered. '_Are __you __lying? __This __could __be __a __date __right __now. __God, __why __doesn__'__t __he __like __me?_' Such erratic thoughts, really.

Roxas grinned at him, making Axel grin back. They were cool with each other now. "I can drive, you asshole. I borrowed my dad's car since I don't have one."

They spent around an hour there before deciding to separate. In that hour, though, things were still pretty uncomfortable. Not like it had been at lunch, but there was this feeling of doubt floating around in the air. They all had made up, but something made it impossible to forget what had happened.

* * *

><p>The next two weeks went by quickly enough, and that surprised Roxas a little bit. Not that time didn't normally fly, but the entire time had been just so awkward. A snowballing of events created tension in the group. Little things that would never have meant anything if Axel and Demyx hadn't spotted Roxas and Zexion making out. Even though Roxas and Zexion had initially taken a strong stance, their strength diminished as they were sucked back into the petty little problems that called to them. They simply cared too much about everyone's perceptions.<p>

The first thing that had happened occurred on the Saturday following the day Roxas and Zexion had confronted Marluxia, Larxene, Demyx, and Axel about the fact that they weren't dating. Zexion and Roxas had been fooling around some more, but it was a more literal meaning of fooling around. They weren't doing anything bad. In fact, they weren't even kissing. All they were doing was pretty much just clean wrestling. There wasn't much that was sexual about it, but wrestling is wrestling and it has the tendency to _look_ sexual even if it isn't. Thus, Demyx was quite taken aback when he entered the bluenette's room and found him pinning Roxas to the bed with a triumphant sneer on his face.

They hadn't discussed that, Demyx only apologized and left and then the tension had increased by Monday. It was clear that Demyx had told everyone about his findings. The dirty blond had never been particularly good at keeping secrets, as Zexion had told Roxas.

Throughout that week, there had been many cases where Zexion and Roxas had just finished fooling around or they were just about to start when someone would enter and find the two in a suggestive position. Luckily, they'd never been caught kissing or in the middle of anything. Roxas wondered why they kept going at it. Only one logical answer came to him. The both of them used their time to fool around as a way to relieve stress the group as well as stress from their parents. Zexion sometimes pretended that Roxas was Demyx (which the blond thought was a bit weird, but he never said anything about it) and Roxas allowed him to do so because he was able to get his sexual needs met.

Aside from constantly being caught in mildly suggestive situations, Axel had also become increasingly forward with Roxas, which made practically everyone uncomfortable. They were fine with gays of course, Marluxia was pretty much the definition of gay after all. The problem lie in the fact that Roxas just was not interested. In fact, he'd dropped some quite obvious hints that he didn't want Axel. He'd talked about girls and pretended to be very interested in Naminé.

The blond didn't know why he'd agreed, but Axel had invited him to hang out. He'd gone just to see if there was anything he could do to set Axel on the right path and inform him that he only liked the redhead as a friend. He'd gone so far as to say 'Axel, I'm glad we could hang out. I'm really glad we're just friends,' but Axel had some pretty fucking selective hearing. Right after Roxas had said that, Axel tried to hold his hand.

All these things led to a very uncomfortable group. In fact, at lunch, either Demyx and Axel had to sit alone or Roxas and Zexion did. They were the only people who really had a problem. They were the source of all the discomfort. Everyone else just felt awkward being with them. None of them believed that Roxas and Zexion weren't dating and Axel had tricked himself into thinking that Roxas liked him. They were up shit creek without a paddle.

So, with all these awkward things going on, everyone was unsure of how well Halloween would go over. The plan was to go trick-or-treating, but since Halloween was on a Monday this year, they decided they would go from 8:30 to 11PM. From there, they would proceed to Demyx's house because Seifer was having a Halloween party and he'd invited a good portion of the school. They figured they'd chill there until their parents went ballistic or until the party died down. It would probably be the latter of the two choices. Since they were planning on going to the party afterward, they figured they would probably get shit-faced wasted whether on purpose or not, so they nominated Demyx as their DD. None of them was planning on going to school the next day.

It was currently Halloween and Roxas and Zexion were sitting in the Strifes' living room waiting for Marluxia to show up. He was in charge of getting all the costumes and makeup ready and together since it was his choice this year. He was supposed to arrive around 6 so that he could dress them and then take them back to Demyx's house (the base of operations for the evening) to apply the makeup. Apparently the mass amount of makeup Marluxia had was so cumbersome that he had to leave it in one place instead of carrying it around with him.

Cloud and Sora were home, and Riku was there, too. Sora and Riku had opted to get matching costumes and they were going trick-or-treating as Batman and Robin. Sora said that they were planning to stay away from Seifer's party because he was too scared to go. He said that Kairi was throwing a much smaller party at her house, and they were going to go to that instead.

Cloud had been in the room when this conversation had taken place and he grew very curious about Seifer's party. Zexion tried to explain it to him, and when he did, Cloud grew somewhat worried and upset that they were even going at all. He warned Roxas not to drink and said that if he did he would be in a shitload of trouble. Roxas didn't really care, though. It was a chance to let out his inner demons and he was going to take it. Who cared if that involved a little bit of Jack?

Finally, Marluxia showed up in Demyx's car, probably so that he didn't have to pick his own car up the next morning. Cloud's face went through a flurry of expressions as he saw Marluxia unveil the dresses Roxas and Zexion would be wearing that evening.

"Oh, don't you worry, Mr. Strife, this was _my_ idea. They wouldn't normally dress in drag, I promise!" Marluxia explained in response to his many expressions.

"Why are we dressing in drag in the first place?" Roxas wondered. It sort of made sense because it was Marluxia, but he wasn't sure where this desire was coming from exactly. He looked up and down the dress Marluxia had picked out for him. It was a beautiful dress, but he found it hard to picture how it would look on him. He'd never worn a dress or even a skirt before.

The pinkette's eyes seemed to glow. "Ah, well that is because on our handy-dandy itinerary that I mapped out, we'll be trick-or-treating at Vexen's house. In fact, his neighborhood is laid out in such a way that I can go to his door three times and it would still make logical sense. I want to give him something of a show. If he's not into me because I'm a man, then he'll _have_ to be into me because of the woman I can become. Trust me, this plan will not fail!"

With that, the dressing commenced. Marluxia kicked Sora and Riku out of the twins' room so that he would have ample space to dress Roxas and Zexion in privacy. They went one at a time, and Marluxia had to help them because neither of them had any idea of how to put on a dress.

When Roxas descended the stairs after Marluxia had put the dress on him, Sora, Riku, and Zexion all began laughing. The blond huffed, though his face turned red and he sat angrily on the couch. He told Zexion it was his turn and the bluenette frowned before climbing the stairs rather slowly.

"Hey, Rox, pro-tip for you: Don't sit like that," Sora said before bursting out into full blown laughter with Riku.

Roxas' face burned red and he hastily closed his legs once he realized that they could see the lacy panties Marluxia insisted he wore. That was pretty bad, but at least the pinkette hadn't demanded that he tuck his dick away like Marluxia planned on doing to himself. Luckily, his dress was long enough that he wasn't in danger of his panties (or the bulge they created) showing unless he wasn't careful.

Cloud had left the scene by that point, not wanting to see his son be so emasculated.

Once they were all dressed, Marluxia drove them back to Demyx's house where Seifer and his gang were rushing around making adjustments, putting up decorations, and hiding all the expensive things in a closet with an electronic lock on it. Everyone in Roxas' group was in the romping room, all of them dressed in drag. Even Naminé and Larxene had on slutty dresses.

Roxas and Zexion couldn't contain their laughter when they saw Axel and Demyx dolled up in full drag attire, heels, makeup, dresses, and all. The two older boys blushed red and tugged at their dresses hoping their panties weren't showing. Marluxia proceeded to dressing in his own gown in the corner of the room. Once he was finished, the making up commenced and he chose Zexion to be the first victim.

It took the pinkette at least an hour to finish their makeup, and when they were finished, everyone marveled at themselves in a giant mirror that was on the wall in the romping room. Marluxia had done a stupendous job on absolutely everything. He had to give Roxas and Demyx wigs, but even the wigs looked good.

As Roxas looked over himself, he took in the details of his ensemble. It was simple enough. It was a knee-length black gown with a patter of blue sequins and a blue feather boa. His wig was black and was pulled into a long, tight ponytail that sat just at the top of the back of his head. His makeup was pretty heavy, but it made his eyes look fucking gorgeous, and it mesmerized him.

_Everyone_ looked gorgeous. Zexion's dress was shorter and fitted to his boyish figure. It was dark purple and very shiny and his hair was curled at the ends. His makeup was very birdlike, and it turned Roxas on in a strange way. Axel was probably most gorgeous of them all. His dress was covered in orange, red, and yellow sequins as if the thing was on fire. His hair was in its usual style, only it was pulled into a messy ponytail that he said looked like Reno's (whoever that was).

Actually, Roxas was so entranced by Axel that he didn't notice what anyone else was wearing. It was funny how that worked out. To commemorate this event, they took at least 100 pictures of them doing different poses as if they were models. There were many panty shots, as none of the boys knew how to tell if their panties were showing or not. 8 o'clock came quickly and they were off to trick or treat as drag queens on a Monday night. It was sure to be awesome.

* * *

><p>The trick-or-treating wasn't as fun as Roxas had predicted, though the tension in the group had completely disappeared. Maybe it was the costumes. Anyway, everyone's feet were aching after around 20 minutes, so Marluxia offered to carry everyone's heels. In addition to the swollen feet everyone was now suffering, Demyx insisted on walking right next to Zexion the entire time. A couple times, Roxas noticed the two were holding hands, and he was mildly curious. Unfortunately for him, Axel attempted the same thing. Roxas finally broke down and let the redhead hold his hand just so he'd leave him alone about it. The face Axel made when Roxas finally broke down was absolutely precious. It was a look of complete happiness and his grin went from ear to ear. Roxas didn't have the heart to even try to pull his hand away after seeing that face.<p>

When it was time to return to Demyx's house, everyone realized that Marluxia wasn't with them anymore, they grew mildly worried. Larxene sent him an angry text demanding to know where he'd disappeared. They were in the car by that point, and when Larxene received a reply, she verbally said "Oh." Then she proceeded to explain that Marluxia had snuck into Mr. Price's house and was now attempting to seduce him. Everyone said "Oh."

When they reached Demyx's house, the party looked to be in full swing. Roxas was looking forward to drinking and dancing until he passed out. Sadly for him, Axel needed to ruin those plans. He didn't even let Roxas into the house. Instead, he took him into the yard where there was an old tire swing tied to an oak tree.

"Axel, why are we here? I want to go to the party…" Roxas complained. Instead of sitting on the swing, he sat on the grass with his back pressed against the tree. The cool, damp bark on the bare skin of his back gave him goosebumps.

Axel didn't say anything. Instead, he grabbed Roxas by the arm and forced him to stand up. Then, before the blond could react, he cupped Roxas' cheeks and planted a firm kiss on his sticky, vanilla-glossed lips.

Roxas fought at first, but the redhead held him firmly in place. He didn't want to think about the way Axel's lips tasted the way the he smelled or about how their lips locked like digits. He didn't want to think of how his body was reacting on its own and how his hands slowly crept up to lock together behind Axel's neck or how he'd stopped fighting or how Axel's hands were on his hips or how Axel's tongue was in his mouth turning him to putty. His brain checked out for the night. So long, sayonara, adios, au revoir, auf Wiedersehen.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **I know, you all hate me. I know. Why cliffhanger? Because I'm a cruel mistress. Oh, also, this chapter is pretty much the last of the Roxion thing going on. Well, except for some grinding in the next chapter, but we just won't worry about that.

Anyway, I took _the_ most popular tradition in yaoi KH (AkuRoku at least) in which Roxas (though in this case it's everyone) must dress as a woman at some point. Though, most people don't refer to it as dressing in drag (or cross dressing). I wonder why that is… Hmm… I don't know; I felt I should keep some form of normalcy in my totes cray-cray story. /start minor rant Also, I find it hard to believe that Axel would be super attracted to Roxas just cuz he's in a dress. In most cases, they're _gay men_ for goodness' sake! There actually is a lot of hostility towards feminine gays as well as drag queens even within the gay commumity so I think that the point that Axel just wants to jump Roxas' skin for wearing a dress is wrong. Unless the point is that it's a _slutty_ outfit. I don't know. I can only imagine it as being funny. /end minor rant

Aside from that, I know I mentioned it already, but you should totes read the Zemyx story I'm workin on. Yup. It's called Our Own Fairytale (lame, I know) and it is on my profile. I love shameless self-advertising.

Aside from the aside from that, I hope you enjoyed the chapter and all the gooey saliva that was exchanged in it. There is so, so much more to come (lol geddit?). Next chapter will probably be up the 23rd and then after that, we will be back to random, sporadic, semi-regular updates.

If you loved or hated this chapter or my face you should totally review, fave, alert, what have you. If you do those things, then you will be one super cool jellybean in my eyes. I actually don't like jellybeans all that much. I like the popcorn ones, but it's still kind of grody. Anyway, thanks for the support and such I already said this but thank you and I love you and all of your faces and your hands. I like hands. Okay, I must go fill out a 100 question AP French practice test. Youpi. Au revoir, et je t'aime! J'aime tout le monde!


	16. I'm Sick of the Bends

**A/N:** Hello, I have this new chapter here for you. It's been ready to go for about a month and I meant to upload it yesterday, but I was playing Skyrim. (I'm a Wood Elf in case you are interested in that sort of thing. I also have not sided with either the Imperials or the Stormcloaks.)

Thank you for all the love and affection received on the last chapter and I really do muchly appreciate the reviews and the faves and the alerts~

Please enjoy the chapter!

Kingdom Hearts © Disney and Enix

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><p>Axel's lips tasted like he smelled despite the fact that he was wearing so much lipstick. The buzzing in his ear was the only thing Roxas could hear and Axel was the only thing he could smell. He felt, however, many pleasing sensations, like the warm skin on the back of Axel's neck, or Axel's warm hands on his waist, or the way Axel's torso was pressed up against his chest, or how Axel's thin manly lips were chapped and peeling under the layer of lipstick.<p>

When Axel pulled away, he fixed Roxas with a smug look. "I knew you liked me somewhere in there," he said.

From there, Roxas punched him in the face and then hurried over to Demyx's house as he hastily began to wipe all the crap off his lips. The lipstick, the lip gloss, and Axel's saliva all had to come off _now_ or Roxas would not be a happy camper. He was glad when he finally entered Demyx's house and blended into the crowd seamlessly. The first thing he wanted to do was drink. He'd never really felt the need to drink alcohol, but tonight he'd planned on getting wrecked. He'd drunk alcohol before, though. In fact, whenever Roxas, Pence, and Hayner hung out back in the islands without Olette, they often drank Pence's mom's rum.

Roxas located the booze in the kitchen and found that Larxene and Zexion were drinking their cares away while Demyx tried to get Naminé to refrain from drinking all the shots she'd poured herself. He joined them and Zexion grinned a tipsy grin at him. The bluenette handed him a glass of Jack that he'd been drinking out of. Roxas accepted it with a smile and proceeded to down the beverage, ignoring the way it burned at his throat.

It didn't take long for Roxas to get tipsy, and soon he wanted to dance with Zexion, who happily agreed. They made their slightly drunken way into the living room where most of the dancing was taking place. He and his blue-haired friend performed dance moves they'd only ever expected to see in clubs. They grinded with everyone they could, male or female, and just let loose for the most part. Everyone around them was doing the same thing, and no one cared at all. In fact, many, many people participated in the grinding.

As the whiskey began to wear off, they went back to the kitchen for regular beer, which they drank much to the displeasure of Demyx, who was at least trying to keep everyone somewhat sober. Naminé was far past tipsy and now completely inebriated. With her short dress, she had guys all over her, wanting to cop a feel or grind a little. She let them despite the fact that Demyx and Seifer would have been very disappointed. She was too smashed to think straight.

Axel was there, too, looking completely dejected. He was sucking down beer like it was water. Larxene was comforting him and they did double shots together. Zexion and Roxas joined them, hoping to finally get completely plastered. They must've drunk at least 4 shots, and then the job was done. They were giggling and laughing at everything and flirting with Larxene, who eventually ended up getting about as drunk as them. The rest of the night was a blur.

* * *

><p>The next thing Roxas knew, he was waking up on the couch in his living room with Zexion entangled in his arms. It took him a moment to realize exactly where he was. When his vision became clear enough, a huge throbbing headache took over. He groaned and adjusted his position on the couch, which awoke Zexion. It was then that he noticed Cloud standing over him with a look of intense disapproval on his face.<p>

He sat up quickly. "Dad?" he wondered in a raspy voice. His throat felt like a desert.

"Good, you're awake," Cloud's voice was angry, and that woke up both teenagers completely.

"Where am I?" Zexion wondered as he slowly sat up on the couch next to Roxas. He was holding his head, and Roxas knew the bluenette was probably in about as much pain as he was.

"Zexion, you should leave. Your step-mother is worried sick about you."

It didn't take anymore than a simple command for Zexion to immediately leave, putting a hand to his mouth as he went in case he felt the need to throw up.

Just like that, Roxas was left alone with his father. His brain pounded and pounded at the side of his skull. The look on his father's face was the glare he hadn't used since the Strifes had moved. It burned Roxas' soul. All things considered, Roxas knew he wouldn't make it out unscathed.

"Roxas Strife, I'm very disappointed in you," Cloud started, his voice low and lethal. "I told you not to drink any alcohol and you deliberately disobeyed me. What do you have to say for yourself?"

Roxas wanted to be angry with himself, but a sudden wave of nausea overcame him. If he was a cartoon character, his eyes would be spinning in his skull. "I think I'm gonna… I'm…" he couldn't even say it without bile stinging at the back of his throat. Luckily, Cloud knew what was going on. He even had a bucket ready in case this happened. When Cloud handed Roxas the bucket, the younger blond snatched it away and emptied the contents of his stomach into it whilst his father cringed.

Tears rolled down Roxas' cheeks and that was when the guilt set in. He retched again and it fucking _hurt_. "I'm sorry, Dad," he said with a sniffle before he threw up a third time. Once he was sure his stomach was empty, he wiped at his mouth with his arm and looked up into his father's angry eyes. Something like sympathy shone underneath the furious exterior, and it made Roxas feel even worse.

"I'm so, so sorry… Please, don't hate me," he begged. He could handle Tifa hating him. He could probably even handle it if Sora hated him (though he preferred that his twin didn't hate him). He could not, however, handle it if Cloud hated him. Cloud was the only real parent he had, and without him, Roxas would probably legitimately go insane unless he committed suicide first. "I'm sorry, Daddy, just don't hate me…" he sobbed.

Cloud sat next to him on the couch and placed the soiled bucket carefully on the coffee table. He took the towel he'd prepared from the table and wiped at Roxas' mouth, and then the arm he'd used to clean his mouth with. "Roxas, I don't hate you," Cloud promised once he set the towel aside. He wrapped an arm around his son and guided Roxas' head so that it rested against his shoulder. "I could never hate you. You're my little boy, I could never hate you." He slowly ran his fingers through Roxas' hair in an attempt to soothe him.

Roxas simply took the affection his father was giving him. If he was thinking clearly, he probably would have wondered why Cloud was being so affectionate with him when he'd just completely done what he'd said _not_ to do.

"I'll punish you once you're feeling better. For now, you should go take a bath and enjoy your free day. Later today, you're in for it," Cloud informed him in the same rigid voice he'd used earlier.

Roxas smiled weakly at him, but did as he was told and headed upstairs on his aching feet, still wearing a dress and panties, to take a bath and wash all the shit off his face.

* * *

><p>"Was it fun?" Sora asked that night at dinner, sounding somewhat bitter. Unluckily for the brunet, he still had to go to school that day while Roxas did not. That meant that Sora hadn't really heard anything about the night he'd had.<p>

The dinner table was somewhat tense. Tifa was glaring daggers at Roxas, which made the situation uncomfortable. She was so angry at him that it wasn't even funny. Roxas had made her mad before, but never this completely irate. She was practically trembling with fury. Cloud, on the other hand had already gotten past his anger and was curious if the trouble he was in had been worth it.

"Fuck yeah!" Roxas replied with a broad smile. He'd actually had a lot, lot, _lot_ of fun last night. It wasn't often that he got to let loose, so the opportunity wasn't wasted. He'd lived it up and, all in all, it had been a fantastic night.

"Roxas, watch your mouth!" Tifa barked at him.

The blond giggled in reply. After his hangover had worn off, he felt _awesome_ about everything. Nothing could get him down. He was in too good of a mood. He was also stuck in a very cussing mood, and didn't exactly feel like censoring himself.

"So what exactly did you guys do? I wanna know all the details!" Sora demanded.

Roxas laid out a timetable of the events that had happened, but he left out the juicy details to spare himself as well as his parents. They didn't need to punish him more and he didn't need to make them angrier.

After dinner was over and the table was cleared, Tifa and Cloud called Roxas back to the table and asked Sora to leave. It didn't make much sense why they asked the brunet to go, Roxas would end up telling him everything anyway. The blond didn't dare question their methods, though, and went to sit at the table.

"Alright, so your punishment is going to be simple and clean. Firstly, hand over your cell phone," Cloud instructed. He held out a waiting palm.

That wasn't _so_ bad. Roxas fished his phone out of his pocket, turned it off, and then handed it over.

"You're grounded for the next _month_—"

"Two and a half weeks, dear," Cloud interrupted.

Tifa glared at him. "_Month_," she repeated, meaning business. Cloud wouldn't dare correct her again. "Which means you can't hang out with your friends at _all_. Everyday after school, we're going to call the house, and if you're not there to answer, you are going to be in _big, __big __trouble_."

"You won't be allowed to leave your room at all while we're home, and we're revoking your computer and TV privileges. In addition to that, you'll do the dishes every night, and clean the entire house twice a week. Do you understand, Roxas?" the older blond asked.

This punishment sucked ass, but Roxas nodded his head anyway.

* * *

><p>Sora and Roxas were in Sora's bunk because the brunet had demanded a change of pace and he also demanded the right to sleep with Roxas that night. He felt particularly clingy, and Roxas deemed it as Sora's attempt to protect him and keep him from doing anything "bad." Of course, Roxas hadn't the heart to refuse a request that had such loving intentions, let alone a request from Sora while he pouted.<p>

"Roxy, I had a lot of fun last night, too," Sora informed him. He and Roxas were facing each other in Sora's bunk as they talked.

"Oh, yeah? Anything good happen?" he wondered.

Sora immediately began to blush. "Riku said I was cute in my Robin costume. A lot of people said we looked cute together. Oh, and I got _lots_ and _lots_ of candy! Oh, and I held Riku's hand and I got to hug him a lot because people wanted pictures of us. And Kairi's party was fun! We played spin the bottle, and I had to kiss her. And then Riku had to kiss this other girl, and that made me angry, but whatever. There was nothing I could've done. Oh! But when Riku took me home, he actually drove me to a park and we lay in the grass and stargazed for like an hour while we talked to each other. It was magical, Roxas, magical…" his voice trailed off and his cheeks burned and he smiled a smile that Roxas had never seen on his face before. It was gentle, and sweet and lacked Sora's usual goofiness. It was a serious smile.

"Sora… are you in love with him?" Roxas wondered. That was the only logical explanation.

Sora looked startled for a moment and stared at Roxas with wide eyes. His astonishment melted away soon enough and his strangely serious smile returned. "I think I might be, to be honest with you. Riku's like my soul mate; perfectly crafted for me. You know, I've never had serious a crush on anyone before. But Riku, he's different. Are you surprised?"

The blond smiled at him. "A little. You don't have a goofy smile on your face like usual. You look... Older. More mature. And that is just weird," he explained.

"So did anything sexy happen to you, gorgeous? Or did you get so drunk that you can't remember anything that happened?" The brunet asked curiously. It was clear in the way he said it that he really disapproved of Roxas drinking. That had been one of the fears the brunet confessed to having to Riku while he'd been crying after Roxas had returned home from coming out to Zexion about his power and his fondness for penises.

That silenced Roxas for a moment and swept away his smile. Axel had confessed to him in such a bold manner. He had scared Roxas, especially because of how he'd forced that kiss on him. Roxas couldn't deny that it felt good. In fact, it had felt too good. His confusion was through the roof at this point. If they were honestly just friends, then why had Roxas turned insta-excited when their lips were laced together like gloves? Regular friends didn't enjoy it when other friends forcibly kissed their lights out.

"Axel kissed me," Roxas admitted in an unsettled tone. "I'm not sure if he was being serious or just fucking with me," he lied. Axel had been dead serious, but he didn't want to let Sora know that. Sora hated the redhead enough as it was; he didn't need any more fuel to bolster his hatred.

Immediately, Sora's face transformed into a disappointed expression. "Roxas," he groaned. "What did you do when he kissed you?" he demanded. '_If you kissed him back, then that boy is not going to have the ability to procreate when I'm finished with him!_'

"Well, I didn't do anything at first. I was really surprised. I really hadn't seen it coming at all. After he kissed me, though, I, um, may have… kinda… punched him in the face," the blond explained. Guilt washed over him as he relived the moment in his mind's eye. The pained sound Axel had made when his fist had connected with his face was forever imprinted in his mind along with the hurt look in his eyes. It wasn't nearly as amusing as Sora found it.

Of course the brunet burst out laughing at the mental image Roxas had just given him. Roxas chuckled along with him a little just so that he didn't feel so uncomfortable. The blond failed to mention the pained look in Axel's eyes when he'd rejected him, or how he felt horrible about the whole thing. Sora was too simple-minded to understand the complicated range of emotions Roxas was feeling. Plus, he was simply too biased to understand.

* * *

><p>The next day Roxas and Zexion were silent as they walked to school. It was hard to miss the smile on the bluenette's face. In addition to that, the bluenette seemed to have a certain bounce to his step that made him seem absolutely over-the-moon. Roxas figured that something good had happened that he didn't know about.<p>

It wasn't until lunch that Zexion's mysterious behavior was explained. The group all seemed down except for Zexion and Demyx. The two of them looked very happy. Aside from that, everyone was pretty upset. Marluxia looked the most devastated of everyone. He hadn't even styled his hair that morning so it hung limply from his head. Marluxia's hair was his pride and joy, so it was pretty scary to see it unloved and neglected as it was.

Axel looked crushed as well, but he was at least attempting to look somewhat normal. He gave Naminé a fake smile as Roxas sat next to him. It was a sarcastic smile and it struck something deep inside Roxas. Little did Roxas know that this very smile was the spark that would set off a chain reactions leading up to a most interesting explosion. That was the moment Roxas decided he needed to talk to Axel alone. He decided after school would be the best time. He would invite him over since there was no chance Axel would refuse. Even if he did refuse, Roxas had no problem guilt-tripping the redhead so that they could fix all the shitty little dinks in their friendship that made it look old and finished already.

"So how much trouble is everyone in?" Roxas asked to break the awkward that had settled over them three weeks ago.

Everyone looked to Marluxia to answer first. He scowled the unhappiest frown Roxas had ever seen. His eyes were rimmed with tears and he quickly buried his face in Larxene's chest to soften the blow his silent sobs dealt to his poor body.

Larxene answered for him in a very gentle voice which held a surreal quality that made Marluxia look like a glass man. "He called the police on him." That was all that needed to be said. Everyone felt bad.

"What about you, Roxas?" Demyx wondered after a moment of egg-shell silence.

"I'm completely grounded for a month. Locked away in my room like a princess…."

'_Let __down __your __hair._' Axel's face expressed the depression as he thought this, but he didn't mention it at all. Instead he said, "I got grounded for a week. I wasn't completely plastered like you guys, so I mostly got in trouble for breaking curfew."

"I'm not in any trouble and neither is Demyx, for obvious reasons," Naminé chimed in, and her chipper voice seemed out of place because the petite blonde's voice was normally feather-soft and loud as butterflies.

"Did anything good at all come from Halloween aside from it being fucking awesome when it actually happened?"

Zexion and Demyx glanced happily at each other before Demyx wrapped around Zexion's waist and said with a thousand-watt smile, "Actually, Zexion and I are dating now."

* * *

><p>Axel looked very surprised to see him; surprised enough that the hurt in his eyes disappeared. "Hey, Roxas, what's up?"<p>

Roxas guiltily looked down at his feet. He felt positively horrible for making Axel so upset. It surprised the blond when a large hand rested on the top of his head and ruffled his hair a bit.

"You okay, kid?" the redhead asked affectionately, despite being only a year apart in age. His warm hands did volumes to improve Roxas' mood. Their heat defrosted a migraine the blond hadn't even realized he had until then.

"Axel, can you come to my house today?" Roxas finally grew the nerve to ask. It felt oddly like he was asking Axel on a date, what with the way his stomach fluttered with butterflies and other winged things. His mind laughed at the irony, but his heart laughed at the bitterness his mind was expressing.

Axel looked very confused. "Today? Like, right now? Wait, I thought I wasn't even allowed inside your house?"

A chuckle escaped Roxas and he rested his hands on the redhead's shoulders. The moment he made physical contact with the redhead, his nerves disappeared. "Shh, relax Axel. Are you _really_ going to do what Sora wants over what I want? I want you there so that's your free pass. Come on, please?"

'_Are __you __making __fun __of __me?_' Axel quickly went on the defensive, brushing Roxas' hands off his shoulders. "You know, Rox, I don't think that I should go. I mean I'm grounded and you're grounded and I don't want to get either of us in trouble. Maybe some other time..." He finished fishing things out of his locker and attempted to walk away, but Roxas grabbed his arm before he could get away.

"Wow, Ax, I never knew you were such a chicken. Well, I guess I'll just go home _alone _in that case where I could be kidnapped or mugged or raped or even killed on the way. Little old me with my young body and naïveté and no one big or strong enough to protect me..." the blond trailed off. "Oh well, I'm gonna go get attacked in the street." And with that he started to walk away. Of course, Axel took the bait and quickly followed after him.

"I guess I can come over for a little while. I don't have my car, though, so..."

"We can walk."

Ten minutes later the two boys had left school and were well on their way to Roxas' house. Roxas couldn't swallow the nerves that had returned to his throat. It was difficult for him to chat with the redhead without stuttering and his heart raced at the slightest amount of physical contact. Bros didn't think that about each other.

Roxas almost introduced the point he wanted to make, but he couldn't bring himself to say it with the risk of Axel leaving. At least if they were at the blond's house, he could lock the door behind them which would hopefully provide Roxas with enough time to keep the redhead from leaving without a fight.

When they arrived on Roxas' street, he was pleased to find that his father's car was gone, signaling that he had left to go wherever. He began picking up the pace in case he didn't make it in time for his mother's phone call. He didn't need her up his ass about that, too. Luckily, the moment the two teenagers entered the hovel, the phone rang, so Roxas ran to get it, telling Axel to just make himself at home in the living room.

After a curt conversation with his mother, Roxas returned to the living room to find Axel sitting on the couch with very straight posture, looking very uncomfortable. He smiled a little bit at the redhead and then decided it would be best to talk in his and Sora's room in case Cloud came home while they were talking. That way, Axel could sneak out the window or something.

Axel looked more uncomfortable with each step of the staircase as they went, knowing full well that they were going to Roxas' room. The look in his eyes looked as that of a deer in headlights. He knew it was inevitable. His blond companion could've laughed at the horrified face the redhead gave him as Roxas locked the door behind them. '_Oh, God, what did I get myself into?_'

"Axel, I just thought we should talk…"

"If it's about the other day, it was a joke, so yeah, don't worry about it," Axel interrupted. He said it so quickly that there was no way he could've been telling the truth (assuming Roxas gave him the benefit of the doubt). '_I __wrecked __everything__… __Fuck __me__…_'

Roxas gave Axel a steady gaze. Axel's weren't the only nerves that had piled up. Roxas' fingers kept twitching and he really wanted to scratch at his arm. He was surprised that his voice worked when he attempted to speak. "Axel, look, I just… I freaked out, okay? I didn't mean to punch you, kind of. I'm sorry…" He looked down at his feet before looking back up at Axel. They were both standing in the middle of his room. It didn't feel right to sit and have this conversation.

"I already told you, it was a joke! And it's cool, I understand. It didn't even hurt that bad," Axel tried to assure him. '_I don't think I've ever been rejected like that before. Chalk one up for Axel the Fuck Up in Roxas's Eyes._'

The blond tried to frown at Axel, but their eyes finally locked after a battle of trying not to meet each other's gazes. As if that could hurt them both more than it already did. Roxas didn't know why he was hurt. He hadn't been the one to be rejected so harshly. He wasn't the one who'd had his heart shattered. "Axel…" his voice was trembling. The truth came tumbling out of his mouth like vomit. "I'm just so confused and I didn't mean to and it's just, I thought we were such good friends and all, I mean we get along so well and then I find out from fucking _Sora_ that you like me 'cause I was too stupid and scared to admit it to myself and I just… it feels like there's something dangerous and I just can't help it when I look at you and you're like the most attractive person and I'm about to cry right now because I think what's hurting me most is that I hurt _you_ so badly and I really want to take it back but that's just 'cause I'm childish and immature and… yeah…"

It was really quiet as Axel and Roxas just stood there. Roxas was staring at the floor by now, trembling and trying not to cry. He was just so nervous and guilty. Axel stood there with blankness on his face not knowing what to do with himself or how to respond.

"Roxas…" Axel began, but trailed off. Regardless, Roxas snapped his head up at attention and stared at the redhead as if he was about to reveal the cure for cancer. Instead of saying anything else, though, a warm smile formed on the redhead's face. It wasn't a smirk nor a grin; it was a genuine smile. His eyes held love and longing that no one had ever looked at Roxas with before, save for his father on a couple of occasions (minus the longing).

Roxas wasn't sure how many minutes had passed, but he found that his arms were gently resting on Axel's back and Axel's were in much the same place on his own body. They were inches away from kissing. Why weren't they kissing yet? Roxas wondered. Swallowing his fears, he closed the gap and his lips were touching Axel's.

Much the same thing happened to Roxas the night of Halloween. He didn't deny the good this time, though, and he definitely didn't punch Axel. Instead, he reveled in the softness of their lips that had been absent the first time due to the way the lipstick had been drying their lips. He felt two heartbeats as their torsos pressed together, and he was lost in Axel's overwhelming warmth. Being that Roxas was from tropical islands, he was always cold here. Nothing ever warmed him up as much as Axel was doing at that very moment.

When they broke apart, Roxas was breathless. Both he and Axel panted as they gazed at each other. Roxas still felt so unsure, but Axel was positively elated. His smile was so wide Roxas was sure half of his head would fall off.

"So, Roxas, does this mean that we're, like, together now, or…?" Axel wondered.

"Um…" Roxas trailed off as he thought. He was a little distracted by how Axel was still holding him and they were still chest to chest. He cupped Axel's cheeks in his hands so that Axel would pay attention, though the redhead was already staring at him quite intently. "If you don't mind, could we keep this a secret?" he wondered, hoping to every star in the galaxy that Axel didn't take that the wrong way. He did, of course.

"What do you mean?" he asked abruptly, holding Roxas at arm's length now. He looked terrified again.

"I just mean… I kind of want to date you, but I mean, like, could we keep it a secret? I mean, I really can't have Sora knowing, he'd maim the both of us and then he'd tell our parents and I don't want that. And I don't want our friends to know because I'm so… insecure… I guess…" he admitted. "I've never been in a relationship with someone I actually _like_ before and I just… I don't want the stress to get to me… Plus, you know our friends would never shut up about it… Plus, I'm kinda supposed to be straight…"

Axel let out a sigh of relief and then snuggled Roxas against him again, this time rocking the blond from side to side. "You had me worried for a moment… I thought you were fucking with me or something… I wish I could parade you around like the trophy boy you are, but I guess I understand your position. My first relationship went to shit because of… pretty much everything you just said." He put a finger to Roxas' chin so that the blond would look up. "I accept these terms and conditions," he said with a grin before kissing Roxas again, this time in a short, but sweet manner.

"Hopefully, you've actually read them, though," Roxas replied with his own grin when they pulled apart.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **Aww yeah, finally time for some AkuRoku lovin'~! Hope you enjoyed the chapter because I, myself, enjoyed it quite a lot. It was actually a bit weird for me to write because I'm very against underage drinking and I apologize if that sort of thing offends you. On a lighter note, Axel and Roxas are now… "secret looooovers~" I just made a ref a video. Anyway, did you like this, hmm? I am very super excite to write a bunch of schtuff for this story. This is going to be a very long story, let me tell you! I don't rly know how it's gonna end or when, but I suppose we shall see.

If you liked this chapter and schtuff and things, then you should review it and make me supa happy! But you can also alert and fave. That's cool too, yo.

If you live in the U.S. then happy Thanksgiving to all! And if not, then hopefully you will have an amazing day anyway! I'm gonna get fat today and then play bunches of Skyrim. Yup.

Okay, love your faces, byyyyye~!


	17. Fruit Pie With Rainbow Sprinkles on Top

**A/N: **New chapter here, hot, fresh and delicious! Okay, what? I don't even… I've been sick so sorry for the two week gap between chapters.

This is random, but if anyone has a Minecraft server that my friend and I could join you should totes tell me cuz we been looking for one for months… ugh…

ANYWAY. Thanks for all the support and reviews and alerts and faves cuz it makes me supes happy and confident and witty and yeah. So thank you from the bottom of my toesies for the love.

I hope you enjoy this chapter!

Kingdom Hearts © Disney and Enix

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><p>Dinner wasn't as awkwardly silent as the previous night. Sora babbled on as was his nature, and the rest of them just sat there and responded when Sora prompted them. Roxas often wondered if Tifa or Cloud ever paid attention. Roxas always did (well, usually). The only time he didn't listen to Sora was when something of greater importance was on his mind. Few things were important enough for Roxas to think about them instead of listen to his twin. Tonight, though, he was completely out of it.<p>

All Roxas could think about was Axel and his very soft lips. He tried desperately not to think of how the redhead had held him for fear that he would begin blushing madly and begin swooning aloud. Those lips, though, they didn't make him blush. They made him smile a _huge_ smile that was probably the size of Sora's smiles, and that was saying something. He chuckled as he remembered how Axel had had to resort to escaping through the window because Cloud came home while the redhead was still there.

Axel tried to be cool as he scaled the side of the house, using his freakishly long limbs to steady himself. His plan was to go down as far as he could and then jump the rest of the way. Instead of jumping off like a ninja or something as cool, he tripped over his own foot as he pushed off of the wall and landed on his side. Roxas had burst out laughing and then he cruelly threw Axel's backpack down at the redhead. It landed on his stomach and he yelped in pain. From there, he tried to scrape up his pride and he left, jumping the fence to Zexion's yard and then going through his house where he finally departed for home.

"What's so funny?" Tifa asked the snickering Roxas with venom dripping from her words.

"Yeah, Rox, you're in such a good mood! You never smile like that, like, ever! What's up? Did something happen at school?" Sora wondered. Roxas could never fully appreciate Sora and his inherently kind nature. No sarcasm at all, the blond loved his twin's energetic kindness.

"I love you, Sora," Roxas replied. He completely avoided Sora's question because, as much as he truly did appreciate Sora's curiosity, he wouldn't answer that question.

Sora gave him a strange look. "I love you, too?" he responded after a moment. "Whatever, that doesn't answer the question! What happened?"

"Did you know Zexion and Demyx are dating now?" the blond asked. Oh how he loved logical fallacies, especially ignoring the question.

That completely derailed Sora's train of thought. "WHAT?" he demanded excitedly. "They're _dating_ now?"

Cloud and Tifa both looked uncomfortable to hear this. "A boy dating another boy?" Cloud was thoroughly confused by the concept. Of course, leave it to Tifa to be the angry, hateful one.

"That's disgusting! What kind of school did I send you to? I never would've enrolled you two there if I knew there were _gay __people_ lurking in the halls!" she raged.

"Wait, so how do they have sex? Is that even possible?" Cloud wondered distractedly. "Can it really be considered a relationship if there's no sex?"

"Cloud, that's _horrible_! Stop asking such questions!" Tifa demanded.

"Dad, gay guys have anal sex. They can still do that. Everyone has a butt," Roxas informed him, glad that his father didn't seem too disturbed by the idea. As for his mother, he couldn't say that he was surprised. She wasn't really an accepting person when it came to people who were outside the norm.

"Roxas!" Tifa shrieked, horrified. "How dare you bring this talk to the dinner table? We are _eating_!" If she was a cat, her body would look twice its size and she would still be puffing it up.

Meanwhile, Cloud was still mildly confused. "Oh, I guess that makes sense. Wouldn't that hurt, though? I mean, sex is supposed to be about pleasure… Why would they have sex if it's gonna hurt?"

Roxas and Sora grinned at each other. This was a very interesting conversation. Sora let Roxas do the talking for fear that Tifa would skin him alive. With Roxas, at least it was expected. "Well, it's supposed to hurt the first couple of times, and you're always supposed to use lube. But, basically, it feels really fucking good if something or someone stimulates your prostate, so basically, if you're the bottom, it feels really good. And if you're the top, it'd be like normal heterosexual sex."

"Roxas!" Tifa screamed again, but no one listened to her. It was too common to hear her screaming for it to be considered bad.

"That makes sense. I guess I never really thought about it. So does it still feel good to stimulate your prostate even if you're straight?" he wondered.

Sora and Roxas looked at each other once more, grins even wider than before. Together they answered, "Yes."

After dinner that night, Cloud defied Tifa and informed Roxas that his punishment had been adjusted to fit the crime better. Now he was grounded for two and a half weeks as he'd originally intended. As far as the other conditions, he didn't have to clean the whole house, but he did still have to do dishes and he wasn't allowed to go anywhere or have friends over. He still had to stay locked up in his room.

* * *

><p>The next morning, Sora was forced to walk to school with Zexion and Roxas because Cloud had taken the car and Riku had slept in too late to make the trip to the Strifes' to pick up the brunet without being late for school. Roxas hadn't even realized that Riku was giving his twin rides until then, but it made sense. The blond originally thought the walk would be long and awkwardly silent, but that was not the case.<p>

The moment the three of them were walking together, Sora began to drill the bluenette about Demyx. "So, Zexion, Roxas told me that you're dating Demyx now, is it true?" he wondered excitedly, clutching onto his arm like a girl might do to her friend.

Zexion looked shocked and a little embarrassed by this and twitched a little as the brunet grabbed his arm. "Um, yes...?" he replied quite uncomfortably, trying to free his limb from Sora.

Sora went into an all-out squeal fest and snuggled his face into the bluenette's neck, making Roxas realize just how short Zexion was, because even Sora was taller than him. "Oh, that's so adorable! You two are, like, the perfect couple! I mean, Demyx just talks and talks and talks about you with the whole swim team and I'm pretty sure everyone's starting to get sick of hearing about how cute you are, 'cept me 'cause it is absolutely a-_dor_-able!" he gushed. His entire face was positively shining with excitement.

To Roxas' surprise, instead of just rolling his eyes, Zexion glanced down at his feet for a moment before returning his gaze to Sora through his eyelashes. His cheeks were swimming with pink. Uncertainly, he wondered, "Really…? He… talks about me like that…?"

"Oh my _god_, he talks about you _constantly_! He's always just like, 'Today, Zexion was reading this book, and he was tilting his head to the side and it was super cute!' or like, 'Zexion ran into me in the hall by accident and then he was all embarrassed and it was just the cutest thing.' It's always stuff like that and he always talks about how pretty your blue eye is and how it looks like you wear mascara 'cause your eyelashes are so thick and dark."

"O-oh…" Zexion's face was completely red now and he was staring sheepishly at the floor, but Roxas could tell he was smiling.

"Aww! See, look how cute you are! ..." Sora continued on and on, but Roxas had zoned out. He was already well aware of how adorable Zexion was and how Demyx loved him to bits and pieces. His mind was on a red-haired boy he'd been kissing the previous evening. He wondered briefly if Axel ever talked about him like that to anyone.

The main thing on his mind was whether he truly liked Axel or not. His body certainly liked the redhead, but it took more than sexual attraction to make a relationship. He felt a little guilty for not being entirely sure of his feelings. The main reason he wanted to keep his and Axel's relationship a secret wasn't actually for all the reasons he'd given. They were still good reasons, but the main reason was simply because he didn't want to feel pressured in liking the boy. This way, if they broke off their relationship, it would be under wraps and no one would know about it.

That made Roxas feel even guiltier. He didn't want to lead Axel on, but he was very unsure if the part of him that liked the redhead was his heart or his penis. Or perhaps it was both. The fact that he'd been in a physical relationship with Zexion blurred the line in his mind that divided his heart's feelings and his penis's feelings. He knew he didn't like the bluenette, but Roxas Jr. definitely liked him. It was just a confusing situation for him.

* * *

><p>It was a pleasant surprise when Roxas and Zexion entered their English class together and saw that they had a substitute that day. They did like their actual teacher, but there was something special about having a sub. Plus, it was always nice having a day where they didn't really have to do much. Perhaps a reading assignment but nothing big. It also meant that they could sit pretty much anywhere they wanted and the sub would be none the wiser.<p>

Roxas and Zexion took advantage of this luxury and sat in the back of the room next to each other when normally they sat on opposite ends of the room from each other. Unluckily for them, the substitute decided to hang out in the back of the classroom, probably because that was where the teacher's actual desk was. The class was mostly lecture-based, and the normal teacher spent the majority of class time at the podium at the front.

Being that Roxas was sitting the closest to the desk, the sub asked him to bring the roll sheet to the office once she had finished roll call. Roxas did as he was told and brought the roll sheet to the office, but upon entering, he noticed that Marluxia was sitting in one of the chairs sulking. The blond was about to speak to the pinkette, but decided against it when one of the administrators working behind the counter called him up to speak with her.

As Marluxia approached the counter, Mr. Price entered the office from the door on the opposite side of the room from Roxas. The older blond and pinkette shared a surprised look, Mr. Price's expression more so. The administrator who'd been about to speak with Marluxia received a phone call and told the pinkette to wait for a few minutes while she took the call.

Mr. Price approached Marluxia with a somewhat disappointed look on his face. '_So __he__'__s __been __at __school, __after__all. __He __simply __ditched __my __class __twice __in __a __row.__'_ "Marluxia…" he began, but it appeared he didn't quite know what to say. It took Roxas a moment to realize this was about Halloween night when the older blond had called the police on Marluxia for breaking and entering. Suddenly, Roxas was very curious as to what had happened exactly. Mr. Price didn't seem to be angry about that right now.

Eventually Mr. Price asked, "Why are you here, Marluxia?"

The administrator had ended her call by this point, but she didn't say anything, not wanting to interrupt the conversation. She looked rather interested in the conversation, actually.

"Well if you must know, I was absent from your class twice, so I'm here to beg for my life. I'll have to either go to summer school or take another semester of school if I do nothing. I had too many unexcused absences this year, so… yes, I'll be a super senior." Marluxia was trying to appear confident and unfazed, but it was clear just how upset he really was.

'_It __looks l__ike __this __is __worse __than __I __originally __thought. __Marluxia, __why __must __you __complicate __everything?_' Mr. Price thought for a moment before saying, "What are you talking about? You've been in my class both days. It says so on my roll sheet. My roll sheet never lies, you know that. Drop this silly business. Do you need a late pass?" Roxas could've squealed out of happiness for Marluxia, especially at the small smile Mr. Price was wearing. It was rare for him to smile.

Marluxia became pressed for words as emotion sprung to life on his face. A sheepish smile replaced the straight line that had resided on his face seconds before. "Um… No, I was called from class to come to the office… I'd made an appointment with my counselor, so I don't need one…" His voice was thick with emotion and he sounded rather breathless.

"Well, then I'll have to write a note to your teacher excusing you from your class right now. You have drama, yes? So it should be no trouble."

"Why…?" Marluxia wondered, thoroughly confused.

Mr. Price grinned at this. "Because I need your assistance, of course. You're willing to help me, correct? You're my TA, after all." '_Now __we __can __finally __discuss __this __funny __business __without __any __police __or __misunderstandings._'

"But it's your prep period right now… You don't have a class," the pinkette pointed out. His cheeks were turning a light shade of pink. '_Why __does __he __want __me __to __go __with __him __so __urgently? __He__'__s __never __this __pushy__… __In __fact, __he__'__s __only __ever __pushy __about __pushing __me __away. __Why __would __he __**want **__to __be __in __an __enclosed __environment __alone __with __**me**__, __his __least __favorite __student?_'

"Precisely. I need your help preparing for my next class. We're doing a lab in my next class, so I will need some assistance setting up the apparatuses and retrieving the proper chemicals. Come, we haven't the time to dillydally." With that, Mr. Price left the office, not looking back once to see if Marluxia was following him. His confidence in Marluxia following him proved to be true, for the pinkette scrambled quickly after him.

Roxas gave a heartfelt sigh before approaching the counter and turning in the roll sheet from his English class. It was a little strange, but the blond couldn't get over how… good Marluxia and Mr. Price looked together. They looked so natural with each other.

* * *

><p>Lunch that day was a bit strange, but in a mostly good way. Everyone's spirits had been brought back up and the tension in the air was completely gone by this point. It was a little strange, though. All the problems that had existed had fixed themselves within the day. The only problems were Marluxia and Axel's rejections, and it was strange how quickly the situations had been remedied. Everyone seemed a little confused over the change, but no one dared question it for fear of creating more tension.<p>

For Roxas, arriving at lunch was a little strange for two reasons. The first was that Demyx had immediately wrapped himself around Zexion's little finger. This meant that when Roxas went to meet Zexion at his locker, Demyx was already there waiting for the bluenette. He performed all the tasks he deemed necessary in being a good boyfriend, including carrying all of his own books as well as the bluenette's books with one hand and being sure to hold Zexion's hand with the other. The strange part was that as they walked, Zexion and Demyx only had eyes and ears for each other, dubbing Roxas the third wheel.

The second reason arriving at the vending machines was strange was the confusion of whether he should sit next to Axel and how close. He himself had asked for the relationship to be a secret, but he didn't want the redhead to feel like he'd been tricked and was simply being led on. Feeling silly for even worrying about something so trivial as which seat he could take (God, he felt like Rebecca Black), he simply decided to sit next to Axel and be done with it.

Axel gave Roxas a dazzling smile once he was seated and it made the blond's heart skip a beat. Maybe his feelings for the redhead weren't as half-hearted as he'd thought.

"Marluxia, you look like you're feeling better," Naminé observed as the pinkette sat down along with Larxene. There was a beaming smile on his face.

"Oh, yes, most definitely! Mr. Price forgave me and I think perhaps he may like me…," his face burst into color and his breathing picked up, "Oh, goodness, I'm sorry, one second." Marluxia paused to fan himself and regulate his breathing. "I'm just so excited and happy I can barely control myself! That man… Oh, gosh, to think he likes _me_!"

"Well, tell me what happened! I'm curious!" Naminé demanded with excitement in her eyes.

Marluxia took a deep breath. "Right, right, sorry. I was going to speak to my counselor because I'd missed two days of Mr. Price's class and I wanted to see if there was anything I could do to prevent having to go to summer school or repeat a semester. But then Mr. Price came in and said that he'd marked me as present both days. Then he asked me to help him set up a lab for his next class since it was his prep period."

"Wow, that's weird…" Axel muttered.

Larxene grinned at this. "I know, that's what I said!"

"Mr. Price is the strictest teacher probably on the planet. Why the fuck would he let you off the hook?" the redhead continued.

"I know! My thoughts exactly! Which is why I believe he may like me. That, and, well, when we got to his classroom, I _did_ help him set up the lab stations, but it only took around ten minutes. The rest of the time, we spent talking. He apologized for calling the police and said it had been a misunderstanding. He didn't realize it was me and had hidden in a closet or something while he called the cops. I apologized for breaking in, and he told me not to apologize unless I meant it. He's so perceptive that it kills me, I swear… Anyway, after that we sort of just… talked. About a lot of things.

"I talked to him about my mom and he briefly described his family and then we talked about books we like. His favorite book is _Pet__Sematary_by Stephen King. Can you believe it? That's just so like him! You know, he told me that he _likes_ being called the Ice King! He said it was mathematical or something. I didn't really get that."

"Fuck yeah, that's awesome!" Roxas couldn't help but interrupt.

Everyone looked at him with confused looks on their faces. "You know what he was talking about?" Marluxia wondered.

"Oh, yeah, he made a reference… is all… Sorry, he just got 20% cooler." Roxas grinned at Axel. The redhead would probably appreciate that reference.

The redhead put his hands to his cheeks and squealed happily. "Oh, Roxas, you _do_ love me!" he gushed excitedly. "I think _you_ just got 20% cooler!"

Before they could get back on topic with Marluxia, Sora approached the group quickly with Riku hot on his heels. The brunet was clearly upset with the blond, what with the pouty glare he was giving his twin. "Roxas, why haven't you been answering your phone?" he demanded.

The rest of the group decided to continue the conversation without the blond, save for Axel, who appeared to be very interested.

Roxas glanced up at Sora and mentally shook his head in disappointment with his twin. "Mom and Dad took my phone away, remember smart one?" He rolled his eyes.

Sora's demeanor instantly changed and his face flushed a wonderful shade of red. "Oh, yeah… I forgot…" he scratched his head as he took a moment to revel in his humiliation. "Anyway… Um, Dad called and told me that you have to stay after school until my practice is over because he's going to pick us up and he wants to pick us up at the same time. So, yeah, don't forget."

The blond tilted his head to the side and tried to think of any reason their father wanted to pick them up. "Wait, Sora, why does he want to pick us up? He never picks us up."

"Beats me," Sora said with a shrug. "But he sounded really happy. Well, you know, as happy as Dad can sound. Maybe he has good news for us or something. Or maybe he's decided to sell you off to a circus and we're all going to say goodbye to you. You could be a clown. That would be loads of fun!" Sora sat down in front of Roxas at this point and Riku followed the brunet's example. "Oh my _god_, Roxas, you could pull a handkerchief out of your throat! Or you could fit into a tiny car with a bunch of other clowns and you could smell each other's sweat. That sounds awesome!"

Deciding to go along with the brunet, Roxas matched his enthusiasm and began to smile excitedly. "Or, you know what! Or…!"

"Or what Roxas? What!" Sora was positively pumped to hear this.

"_You_ could join as one of those side acts—you know?—the ones that they set up so people can stare at freaks as they see the sights of the carnival grounds. You could be the world's dumbest man! Or! Even better, actually, you could be the bearded lady! Oh my good golly gosh, Sora! Can you imagine it? _Your_ cute face with a beard and long flowing wig and you could have a pet alligator… Heavens to Betsy, Sora! This could be so much fun! Like, OMG!" Roxas let both of his wrists go limp and he batted his eyelashes at his twin.

Unfortunately, Sora was not very amused. His pout returned and he scowled at the blond. "That's not very nice, Roxas," he muttered. "You're not a very nice person, you know."

"We've been twins for sixteen years and you're just now starting to realize it?" Roxas wondered with a grin. "Besides," he began to ruffle the brunet's hair, "I'm only mean to you because _I__love__you_! You are so _cute_!" He cooed to his brother. "Oh, who's a cutie pie? Who's just the cutest thing?"

Sora whined and batted at Roxas' arms, but it was too half-hearted to accomplish anything. "Stop _iiiiit_!"

Out of the corner of his eye, the blond noticed that Riku was very amused by the situation. He had an attractive, bright smile on his face that made Roxas' mouth go dry. Roxas grinned and decided to embarrass the brunet. "Hey, Riku, don't you agree? Isn't Sora just the _cutest l__ittle __thing_?" he asked, pressing his and Sora's faces together so that they were cheek to cheek.

Sora's face burst into flames when Riku began to laugh. "Yes, most definitely, Roxas. The cutest ever," he replied. He took his turn ruffling Sora's hair, which simply made the brunet more embarrassed.

"Riku!" he growled under his breath as he decisively swatted at the silverette, hitting his chest. "Don't be a jerk like Roxas!" He slapped the aforementioned blond's face when he began to pinch Sora's cheeks. Then, with a guttural growl, Sora jumped to his feet, grabbed Riku by the shirt and began to storm off, calling back to Roxas, "We're leaving, you meanie head!" Then he punctuated his sentence by very maturely and appropriately sticking his tongue out at the blond.

* * *

><p>Roxas was very glad that Zexion was also watching swimming practice after school. It didn't surprise him all that much, seeing as how the bluenette and Demyx were now dating. It was a very good chance for the bluenette to see Demyx shirtless. Aside from the fact that this meant that Roxas wasn't alone in waiting for practice to be over (since Axel had to go immediately home today, for he'd gotten in trouble yesterday), Roxas was also glad because he really needed to talk to his blue-haired best friend. Amidst all the awkwardness, tension, and things that had been going on lately, the blond had forgotten all about his conversation with Riku in the library.<p>

During fifth period, he'd finally remembered the conversation as he thought about the silverette and Sora. He would've spoken to Zexion about it sooner, but there were always too many people around. This was the perfect opportunity for him to finally inform Zexion about the conversation he'd had since no one else was watching the practice.

"Hey, Zexion, would you mind taking a break from drooling over Demyx's yummy swimmer's body for a second? I need to tell you something kind of important," Roxas spoke up out of a silence that had fallen over them. He glanced at his blue-haired best friend, grinning at how Zexion's eyes were intently trained on Demyx's body.

The bluenette glanced over at the blond. "Only if you promise to never describe anyone's body as 'yummy' in my presence ever again," he replied with a grin. "Is there something on your mind?"

"Well, actually, I meant to tell you this a while ago, but a bunch of stuff happened and I sort of forgot. Now that things are pretty much calm, though, I remembered. Basically, I ran into Riku in the school library awhile ago—before all the awkward stuff happened in our group—and we got to talking about a variety of things. One of those things really interested me, and I thought it would interest you as well," Roxas informed him.

Zexion quirked a brow and smiled. "Oh, really? Please, do share with me, Roxas."

"Well, he basically told me that our group has a strange air about it. Like we all know something that others don't. He said it was exclusive to our friends alone and he also told me that it wasn't just him that noticed it. He said that a lot of people thought that about us."

"So we're all pretty much freaks? Is that it?"

"No, I just, I was thinking that maybe… maybe other people can sense our powers. And then I thought some more and well, I think maybe the others have powers, too," Roxas concluded.

The bluenette looked shocked. "…You think so? I don't know… It seems a little far-fetched to me; both things do."

"But if you think about it, it makes sense. Just… okay, answer me this series of questions, alright?"

Zexion was hesitant to agree to answer the blond's questions.

"Firstly, are you a social person?" Roxas asked.

The bluenette looked at him with a deadpan expression on his face. "Roxas, isn't it quite obvious?"

The blond rolled his eyes. "Just answer the question. Come on, Zexion, work with me here!"

With a sigh, Zexion answered with a 'no.'

"Did you become friends with Naminé quickly?"

"Yes."

"Didn't you feel like you… _belonged_ with everyone after you met them all?"

"Well, yes, I… I really did. And I still do."

"Have you ever made friends as easily or felt like you belonged somewhere else or with someone else as much as you have and do now?"

"No."

"See? If you're not particularly sociable and don't make friends easily, then there _has_ to be something special about this group and these people that makes us feel so comfortable with them. I don't think it could be anything else. Face it, Zexion, without our powers, you and I may never have clicked quite like the way we do. We'd simply be two neighbors who go to the same high school and like similar music and movies. There's just a lot of understanding, especially deeper understanding, between the two of us that makes us able to talk comfortably with each other like this despite only having known each other for a couple of months," Roxas tried to explain. It made perfect sense in his head. If Zexion didn't understand after such a detailed explanation, then the blond would have to punch him in the face.

It took a moment for Zexion to process all of this. Roxas could see how the bluenette was mulling it over in his head and looking at the situation from different angles and whatever else he did when analyzing information. "Well," he said finally, "it definitely isn't something we should ignore. In fact, we should look more into this. Perhaps you're right. It _does_ logically make sense that we would understand each other so well not only based on our similar interests and personalities, but also on the fact that we both know what it's like to hide something so magnificent from everyone."

Zexion's face brightened considerably and he smiled as he thought of all the possibilities of everyone having powers or what they could be. "Roxas, I must say, I am _very_ excited right now! As if studying both yours and my powers wasn't exciting enough! Now there could be five more powers that need to be studied! My god, I can't even begin to imagine what everyone's powers could be… have you asked anyone about them?" the bluenette wondered excitedly.

Roxas shook his head. "No, like I said before, I completely forgot about it until now. Besides, it's kind of strange to just go up to one of them and ask if they have an ability. Even if I asked, I doubt they would answer just like that."

"I suppose you're right. Well, if we are to do this, we should do it one by one. It's likely that if we try to ask them all at the same time they won't feel enough at ease to answer honestly." Zexion paused for a moment and stared at Roxas. "Unless of course," he began, "you used your ability to see the truth…"

The blond frowned at this and looked away from the bluenette. "No," he rejected the idea without hesitation. "That's like rule number one for myself; don't use the ability for personal gain or at the request of others. It's one of the main reasons I've never told anyone else about my power. I would rather we just ask them one by one."

With a shrug Zexion responded, "It's cool, I understand. We should ask Naminé first, I think. Should we ask her together or do you want to do it or should I?"

From there, the two best friends planned to ask Naminé together the following day when they got the chance. Roxas would prompt Naminé during second period to meet them in the library at nutrition so that they could speak with her privately. They spent the rest of the practice excitedly chatting about what everyone's abilities could be. They decided that Naminé's had to do with her artistic ability, Demyx's had to do with his musical talent, Axel's had to some how be related to his ridiculous hair color, Marluxia's was probably something like planting flowers or something as girly, and Larxene's made her absolutely terrifying. Of course, these were merely speculation.

* * *

><p>After Sora's practice, Roxas said his goodbyes to Zexion and Demyx and then the twins headed out to the front of the school. Cloud had instructed that they wait there until he arrived, so they sat on the curb together in silence for a while. Finally, Sora broke the silence, as he usually did.<p>

"So how was your day, Roxas?" he wondered.

Roxas shrugged in response. "It was fine, I guess. It was an average day. Yours?"

Sora shrugged as well. "Mine was okay, too. Except for when you completely embarrassed me in front of Riku! My god, how could you do that to me?" he demanded, pouting. "Now he thinks I'm a complete fruit pie with whipped cream and rainbow sprinkles on top! Plus, he kept grinning creepily at me the rest of the day. And…" his face reddened deeply as he looked down at his feet, "and he kept calling me adorable…" Suddenly his head snapped up and he glared at his twin, face still red. "And I don't _want_ him to think I'm adorable! I _want_ him to think I'm completely fuckable! No one wants to shack up with the cute guy, Roxas…"

"Sora, did you just say 'fuckable?'" Roxas wondered.

The brunet's hand flew to his forehead exasperatedly. "Look, Roxas, stop nitpicking everything I say and do! You have no idea how _irritating_ it is! Okay, well, you can keep doing it I guess because it's funny, but just not right now. I'm _not_ in the mood for it. I'm being serious here! No one wants the cute guy, Roxas."

Roxas released a sigh and put an arm on his brother's shoulder. "It's okay, Sora. I don't think Riku thinks you're cute in the way you're talking about. You're probably thinking more like a puppy sort of cute or little brother or something. I don't think Riku sees you as that. I think he sees you as cute like, and don't get mad at me for saying this, but I think he sees you as cute like a girl. Lots of people want to fuck girls, Sora. Especially boys."

Surprisingly, Sora took the statement rather well. He looked incredulously at Roxas for a minute before giving the blond a touched smile. "Really?" he wondered. When his twin nodded, Sora wrapped his arms around the blond and kissed his cheek. "Thanks Rox, I love you, bro."

Their father showed up a few minutes later and then they were off. Sora asked where they were going and much to the twins' surprise, Cloud explained that they were going out to eat as a family. Tifa would meet them at the restaurant and was probably already waiting there for them to show up. Roxas asked why, but the older blond didn't respond. He simply smirked and kept driving.

Eating at a restaurant was something Roxas had completely forgotten about. People went to a store to eat food that other people prepared? What a strange concept! It really did seem like a strange idea to the blond, but he had honestly forgotten how nice it was to not have to set the table or how comfortable booth seats were. The restaurant wasn't a fancy restaurant, but it was a nice family restaurant that had a calming atmosphere. The icing on the cake was the fact that their waiter was very attractive and had both Roxas _and_ Sora drooling.

Everyone was in a good mood, even Tifa. She seemed to be especially happy and had even acted very kindly towards Roxas, saying he looked good that day. Both Roxas and Sora were extremely curious about what had caused this sudden change in their parents, but neither of them explained anything, and their thoughts weren't very helpful.

Finally, when they all received their food, Cloud asked Tifa if it was a good time to explain it to their children. Tifa just smiled and told him to do as he wanted. From there, Cloud smiled at his two boys. "I have good news to tell you two."

"Oh, god, Mom, you're not pregnant are you?" Sora demanded.

Tifa scoffed at this. "Heavens no! I already have enough stretch marks from you two to last a life time."

"So what's the good news, then?" Roxas wondered.

"I got a job!" Cloud replied. They all performed a round of cheers before the older blond continued on. "And it's a very good job. The pay is generous, the boss is respectable, and the employees seem to be very nice and a good team."

"Now we can actually afford to eat out every once in a while!" Tifa cheered.

The rest of the night was a good one and it was like old times back in Destiny Islands before Cloud had been laid off. It was nice to finally feel like they were a happy family again. Roxas had really missed that. He'd missed how he could talk to his mother and make her laugh without her being sarcastic or bitchy. It felt good.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **I hope you liked the chapter and everything. It's so loooong and maybe a bit boring but hopefully it wasn't too bad. Setting the stage for so many things. You have no idea.

Anyway, give me some love and review, alert, fave, whatever else have you if you feel I deserve it (LOVE ME).

I'm like supes excited to write about MarVex and such… Their personalities really match up so well in this story, like, yeah. They be cute.

Have a nice day/week/life and hopefully I'll update soon 8D Kisses~!


	18. Mon ange en sucre

**A/N: **Hello, hello! Now, this chapter is somewhat surprising because it took me about as long to write the previous chapter, but it's almost 3 times as long as a normal chapter. Normal chapters are around 4k long without author's notes but this one is about 11k long. Oops.

I hope you all had a good couple of weeks~! I had the joy and pleasure of being in a fashion show and modeling on a runway, and that was absolutely fabulous. Sorry, I had to say it. I'm still pretty pumped that I got to participate =D

I have break this week and next so hopefully I'll be able to write loads. Yup.

Thanks to all you kind ppl that reviewed, faved, and alerted my story! It means so much to me and like, you guys are all awesome 8D Even those of you that don't review. I still love your faces.

Hope you enjoy this chapter~ -lessthanthree-

Kingdom Hearts © Disney and Enix

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><p>Roxas and Zexion were very anxious as they waited for Naminé to show up in the library. She seemed a little confused when Roxas asked her to meet them there, but she agreed nonetheless. They weren't quite sure how it would play out. Plus, if Naminé really didn't have a power, it would be embarrassing for Zexion and Roxas and they'd look like fools.<p>

The moment the two friends saw Naminé enter the library, they tried to swallow their nerves. She smiled at them and made her way over to the table they were sitting at. She looked confused but excited at the same time, as if she knew something interesting was about to happen.

"So why exactly did you two want to talk to me alone?" she wondered in her butterfly voice. The way she leaned into the table and hunched her shoulders forward gave Roxas the impression that she knew this was supposed to be a secret.

It was then that Roxas realized they hadn't thought of anything to say. He looked at Zexion and felt much like a deer in headlights when he saw that Zexion had much the same look on his face. Roxas wasn't quite sure about how to start a conversation like this, but he decided to try anyway. "So, I was talking with Riku a couple weeks ago—you know him, right? I guess I should assume you do—and he told me that our friends seem… um… different than other students. And so Zexion and I got to talking and… um…" He trailed off when he didn't really know where to go with that. He didn't want to reveal his or Zexion's power right away, but he wasn't sure what else fit there. Luckily, Zexion continued where he left off.

"We were discussing what he could've meant and, well, we thought it would be good to ask you what you thought. We're not exactly talking about being "odd" per se, but something… else… Something more unexplainable… unnatural… if you catch my drift…" Zexion trailed off, too, but Roxas didn't know how to continue from there.

Naminé tilted her head to the side and her face, which had been demure and innocent moments ago, became very serious. "I think I understand… I don't quite know…" There was a long pause. No one knew what to say. Finally, the blonde continued on. "I _know _we're both thinking the same thing but it's… strange to say aloud. Very strange."

This made Roxas feel incredibly good and gave him the confidence to keep going with this. "So, then… what's yours? We'll tell you ours if you do."

The blonde girl smiled at this and giggled. "We have the same one, Roxas. But mine's different, and less reliable, I'd say. It's also more dangerous. You were too self-absorbed to realize it, so your thoughts were fairly unguarded. But Zexion, as for you, I have no idea what it could be. Actually, I'm a bit surprised to hear that you have one, too."

Roxas and Zexion both smiled triumphantly at each other and the trio began to laugh. It felt good to be liberated from this huge secret, even if it was only amongst a few people. The bluenette explained his power to Naminé and that was that. They decided not to talk anymore about it at school. The bell to go to class rang, so they walked down the halls together because Roxas and Zexion had third period together and Naminé's next class was in the same direction.

Before Roxas could enter the classroom behind Zexion, Naminé grabbed his hand and pulled him back. The blond was a bit surprised by this because she didn't seem like the type of person to seek out physical contact. He was even more surprised when she wrapped her arms around his neck and gave him a nice hug, nicer than any he'd received in a while.

"Nam…?" Roxas was confused as they pulled away from each other.

The blonde blushed a shade of pink and she looked down at her arms, which were holding each other, for a moment before she shyly looked back up at Roxas. "I just wanted to thank you. It feels nice finally telling someone the truth. I'm sure you know what it's like, so I feel liked we have this sort of connection that maybe you don't have with Zexion."

Feeling sheepish, red took over Roxas' face. He didn't really think he'd done anything amazingly wonderful and her thankfulness embarrassed him for a reason he couldn't quite name. If he didn't know any better, he'd say that he had a crush on her. Strangely enough, when he thought the word 'crush,' Axel's stupid face came to mind. "I really didn't do anything."

"You're too modest, Roxas. I like that about you. Anyway, I just wanted to ask if maybe you wanted to hang out some time as friends. Maybe we could go get something to eat or take a walk or something. I don't know, I just feel this need to spend a little extra time getting to know you better and talking."

Red flags shot up in the blond's head. Sure, Naminé had said 'as friends,' but was that really what this was? It felt more like she'd just asked him out on a date, and Roxas didn't like it. It made him feel like he had caused her to ask him out and that he'd somehow betrayed Axel. "Are you sure…? I mean, Axel's only just gotten over his crush on me, so it doesn't seem fair to be asking me…-"

It was Naminé's turn to be alarmed. "Oh, no, no, no! I really meant just as friends, Roxas. I would never ask you out! Axel would never talk to me again if I did! I just want to get to know you better, and it feels to me like that can only be accomplished if we hang out together. Anyway, text me when you have free time and we can figure out when and where exactly. Sound good?"

Roxas nodded happily and he realized how much he liked the thought of hanging out with the blonde girl. They were a lot alike and it just sunk in how much he had really wanted to get to know her the past few months. He didn't realize it because Zexion and Axel had been occupying pretty much all of his time. It was then that he realized that things in their group were going to change. Zexion and Demyx would probably spend every waking moment together as soon as Zexion's punishment for the Halloween party ended, meaning that Axel would be alone a lot of the time and probably want to hang out with Roxas seeing as they were secretly dating now. It would be better to get to know Naminé better before that happened.

With many thoughts floating through his mind, Roxas entered his English class and sat in his seat just as the late bell rang.

* * *

><p>The next couple of weeks passed by rather slowly. Even though Roxas and Zexion had been very determined to find out everyone's powers, they hadn't asked anyone aside from Naminé. Plus, with Roxas and Zexion's punishments, they didn't have really any free time outside of school. Still, they talked about their powers with each other when no one else was around, like when they walked through the halls. Being paranoid, they always tried to make it sound like they were talking about a video game or a TV show in case anyone overheard them talking.<p>

Although these two weeks weren't exactly exciting, Roxas did learn a lot about Naminé's power. When the blonde said her ability wasn't as reliable as Roxas', she meant that it was more difficult to understand because she could see into a person's brain, and she had to make an earnest attempt to make sense of anything. They weren't categorized neatly into wants, dreams, feelings and facts. Everything simply mixed in with other things. It was also less reliable because if she ever wanted to figure out what the mess of thoughts could mean, she really had to focus, which meant staring at the person whose mind she was trying to read, which created a bunch of other thoughts if they caught her staring at them.

Among one of the more prominent things of the two weeks that had passed was Roxas' confusion about his feelings for Axel. He was pretty much completely over Demyx, save for a little part of him that still wanted to jump the dirty blond's bones, but then again, he also wanted to jump a lot of men's bones that he never would, especially famous men. His confusion over Axel had been irritating him, so while the blond was locked up in his room for the duration of his punishment, he thought about it a lot. He rationalized the situation as much as he could and finally decided that his feelings didn't necessarily matter as much as he was making himself believe.

Roxas decided to just do away with the confusion and leave a big question mark. His logic went something like he was only in high school and their relationship in the current situation wasn't super serious. Dating someone was a way to get to know them, so Roxas decided to focus on that aspect. If things were meant to go well between them, then it wouldn't happen due to his over-analyses. It would have to be natural for the blond to know that it was meant to be. He was at least sure that he was interested in Axel, so he decided to leave it at that for now.

Speaking of Axel, his punishment had ended after a week, so he'd been free while Roxas was still serving out his sentence. Being that Axel was free and (secretly) dating Roxas, he walked the blond home mostly everyday. With Cloud happily settling into his new job, his work hours dictated that he wouldn't get home until around 6 each day, except for Wednesdays and Sundays when he had days off. Due to this, Axel and Roxas hung out at the blond's house whenever he walked the blond home (except for on Wednesdays). Sora typically didn't get home until 5 because he'd taken to messing around with Riku and the swim team even after practice, so it was perfect.

It was a little strange having the redhead over at Roxas' house mostly everyday. This was because the blond had thought their relationship would be much more physical, like the way it had been with Zexion. He knew it was wrong, but Roxas couldn't help but compare his relationship with Axel to his relationship with Zexion. Or maybe he was simply comparing Axel and Zexion. Either way, it made him feel guilty, but it was hard to ignore the differences.

These differences ranged from being very subtle to being very large. One of the largest differences was the fact that when Roxas looked at Axel, he didn't imagine the ways he could have hot sex with the redhead. Instead, he thought about stupid little things like how good Axel looked or how nice he smelled or whether the redhead had noticed Roxas was wearing one of Sora's shirts (as they tended to be snugger and more feminine). A little thing was these looks that Axel gave the blond. Instead of Zexion's hungry, lustful eyes, they were Axel's warm, attentive eyes. The differences went on and on, and the more time Roxas spent with the redhead, the more dissimilarity he noticed.

Whenever Axel came over, it was always laidback and chill, unlike how Roxas had first thought it would be. He thought they would just make out the entire time, but they didn't. In fact, they barely even kissed at all. The only time they ever kissed was when Axel was leaving, and even then, he just gave the blond a peck on the cheek. Usually they watched TV or a movie or they'd talk and eat and sometimes Axel even helped Roxas with his homework if the blond didn't understand the material very well or Roxas would help Axel with math homework because, funnily enough, they had the same class, but at different times. The most physical contact they ever had was hugging or holding hands or if Axel wrapped his arm around the blond.

Despite the fact that most of these activities were boring things people did everyday, Roxas thought it was nice. He felt comfortable around Axel in a way he didn't and hadn't around Zexion. It was calming and Roxas found himself smiling more often over little things that meant nothing because they reminded him of Axel or because they were Axel's doing.

It was Wednesday, November 16th when Roxas' punishment was finally over and Thanksgiving break was the following week. Cloud had left Roxas' phone on the kitchen table that morning before he'd gone to work, which meant freedom. He eagerly checked his missed calls and texts to find that he had a shitload of texts from Hayner, Pence, and Olette, the majority being from Hayner. He also had a bunch of missed calls from Sora since he kept forgetting that Roxas' phone was taken away.

Roxas responded to the texts and then continued texting his friends throughout the day as he normally did. At lunch, Hayner called Roxas' phone and told him that he'd ditched class just to talk to him and guilt-tripped the blond into speaking with him. Of course, Marluxia stole Roxas' phone and spoke to Hayner and then passed the phone around the entire group. Thus, everyone met Hayner that day, which was a bit strange, but also amusing.

After school that day, it wasn't surprising when Axel begged Roxas to go watch the swim team practice in an attempt to celebrate his freedom. Roxas really didn't want to watch the practice because it was all very boring to him, especially now that Zexion preferred ogling his boyfriend to talking with Roxas, forcing the blond to talk to Axel. That wasn't a bad thing, but he just didn't see why it had to take place at the pool when they could've gone somewhere else where it wasn't so humid that Roxas could hardly breathe.

"Axel, why can't we just go somewhere else? We could go on an actual _date_. You know those things that couples do to hang out? Yeah, we could do that," Roxas had suggested.

Axel had ruffled his hair and chuckled, but didn't respond verbally. Luckily, Roxas' ability lent him a hand. '_I__'__m __too __scared __to __go __on __a __date __alone __with __you._' Honestly, Roxas thought that was the cutest thing ever, and it compelled him to grab hold of Axel's hand as they walked to the pool. No one would care.

After swimming practice, Axel, Demyx, Roxas, and Zexion all went out for ice cream, which ended up being awkward because Demyx and Zexion decided to share an ice cream, which wasn't that bad because they'd gotten it in a cup and were using spoons. But then they started fighting to get all the pieces of cookie dough before the other, which then led to feeding each other the ice cream with the spoons, and then feeding each other the ice cream without the spoons. This made it very weird for Axel and Roxas, who simply wanted to eat ice cream and maybe talk. Instead, they ate their ice cream silently and tried to ignore the horrid activity being performed next to them. Finally, the awkwardness ended when Axel suggested they drop Roxas and Zexion off at home.

Dinner was the same as usual in the Strife household that night, Sora babbling on and on, everyone else keeping mostly quiet. After dinner, Roxas and Tifa got into an argument about the fact that the blond hadn't done his homework before hanging out with his friends. Roxas pointed out that Sora wasn't even planning on doing his homework at all that evening, and that pretty much shut her up. Everything was pretty much as it usually was, and usually Roxas was _tired_ by the end of the day. He wasn't sure if it was like this for other people, but every day living in his household wore him out. Still, being dead tired, Roxas couldn't fall asleep that night.

There Roxas lay under the warm sheets of his bed wide awake but dead tired. He could hear Sora's deep, even breaths and knew his twin was sleeping. Sometimes that lulled Roxas to sleep, but tonight it seemed to keep him awake. He blamed it on Sora, but really, the blond's mind was thinking too much for him to sleep. Red hair and green eyes filled his head, and he kept tossing and turning trying to focus on how tired he was. It didn't work, though.

With a sigh, he rolled over to feel around on the floor for his phone where he usually put it when sleeping. The screen's brightness hurt his eyes, but he was too lazy to turn the brightness down, simply letting his eyes adjust. Even though it was nearly 1AM and Axel probably wasn't awake, Roxas sent him a text anyway and resolved not to sleep until the redhead responded.

Surprisingly, Roxas received a response within minutes.

'_**Ey rox, isn't it past ur bedtime?'**_

Roxas grinned at this and couldn't help but smile as he replied. _**'**__**cant **__**sleep, **__**and **__**i **__**can **__**say **__**same **__**for **__**u.**__**'**_

'_**Poor baby. need uncle ax to com tuck u in?'**_

'_**fuck you, asshole.'**_

'_**Ur to kind to me, babiee ;3 srsly, tho, wats up?'**_

'_**thinking **__**to **__**much.**__**'**_ Roxas had been a little hesitant to say this just because he knew Axel would ask what he was thinking about, but he decided to say it anyway. His answer would certainly stroke the redhead's ego.

Sure enough.

'_**Bout wat, darling?'**_

'_**U and how much u suck at everything.'**_

'_**;) yea, i have that effect on ppl specially cute lil blond bois. N e way, how can i help? Phone sex?'**_

Roxas laughed aloud at this. Of _course_ Axel would say that. _**'**__**no **__**fucking **__**way, **__**asshole. **__**idk **__**wats **__**wrong, **__**just **__**cant **__**sleep.**__**' **_The blond wasn't sure what he wanted out of this. Texting wasn't really helping much; it didn't really feel like he was talking to Axel just because anyone could say those things. As if on cue, the blond received a call. He smiled at the name on caller ID (Mr. Sexy Pants, as Axel had named himself). "Hello?" Roxas whispered into his phone.

"Hey, Roxy-baby! What's wrong, hmm?" Axel's voice purred.

It was impossible for Roxas not smile when he heard the redhead's voice. His eyes slipped closed unbeknownst to him and he pictured Axel being in the room with him. "I don't know, usually I fall asleep pretty quickly, especially when I'm so tired." He imagined being lost in Axel's arms, heat he only knew back in Destiny Islands before the redhead came along. "I wish you were here," the blond heard himself say. He flushed lightly when he realized what he'd said and hoped Axel wouldn't make fun of him.

The redhead simply hummed in agreement on the other side of the line. "This'll have to be enough for now. Our families would kill us if either of us got caught sneaking out. When I see you tomorrow, I promise I'll give you the biggest bear hug you will ever experience in your life. You might break a rib."

Roxas chuckled. "Actually…" he paused for a moment, "hey, Axel?"

"Yes, Rox?"

"Do you want to go on an actual date with me?" he wondered. He wasn't sure why, but the moment he asked the question, he realized that _that_ had been bothering him. That he and Axel hadn't really gone anywhere nor done anything. Maybe he was just feeling antsy, only having been to a total of 6 places in Radiant Garden even though he'd been living there for around two and a half months. Radiant Garden was a pretty big city, and it felt weird not knowing where anything was.

Axel seemed a bit surprised by Roxas' wish. "A date? Where?"

Roxas shrugged his shoulders even though the redhead couldn't see it. "I don't know, you choose. I have no idea where anything is or what's around, so I doubt I could plan a date only knowing where the ice cream store is."

"…Why do you want to go on a date?"

This single sentence reduced Roxas to a bundle of nerves. What if Axel didn't want to go out with him? Roxas absolutely hated talking on phones. It was scary not knowing what people were thinking. "You don't want to?" he wondered, hoping Axel couldn't pick up the strain in his tone.

"No, no, it's not that! I just… I don't know…"

"Whatever, it's fine if we don't. Sorry for suggesting it." It was hard to talk through the tightness in Roxas' throat. A feeling of hollowness overcame the blond and he suddenly didn't feel like talking to Axel. He felt a little stupid, like he'd been played. That was dumb, though, because _he_ was the one who'd been leading Axel on without really feeling anything. Now he _did_ feel something for the redhead though.

"Wait, Roxas, I'll go on a date with you, okay? Just… Can I tell you a secret?" Axel's voice wondered, bringing the blond back down to earth.

"Yeah, of course," Roxas responded. Maybe Axel hadn't played him after all.

There was a long pause before Axel finally whispered, "I know you think of me like a stronghold of a person. You know, all strong and shit, right?"

Roxas found himself smiling at this. Just sarcastically enough, he replied, "Yeah, sure."

"Well, that's totally not me. You'd be surprised to know that I'm actually kind of a pussy."

"Really, Axel? This is such a surprise to me. I never would have guessed."

"Shut your whore mouth and listen to me, Roxy!" Then back in whispers he said, "I'm scared shitless to be alone with you. Whenever I try to be flirty and seductive, I look like a moose having a stroke. I'll go on a date with you, but in exchange, please know that I can't be held responsible for anything stupid that I do. Tu comprends?"

Roxas' smile was huge by this point. He felt stupid for getting so worried in the first place. Since when did his feelings change at the drop of a hat? It terrified him to think he could be turning into Sora. "Oui, je comprends. Bonne nuit, mon petit cochon."

"Bonne nuit, mon ange en sucre."

Roxas fell right to sleep and slept more easily than usual.

* * *

><p>The plan was for Axel and Roxas to leave school at noon (since it was a half-day that day), but that was all Roxas knew. The redhead refused to give more information than that, but it forced Roxas to look forward to the date. Even if Axel took him somewhere really weird for a date, such as a cemetery, he had a feeling it was going to be fun. Axel had the ability to make everything fun.<p>

So of course, the next morning, Roxas woke up at 6 instead of 6:30 so that he could take a shower and spend as much time as he needed getting ready. Sora was already awake and texting someone (Riku probably) comfortably on his top bunk by the time his twin rolled out of bed and was there to witness the anxiety in the blond's demeanor as he looked for clothes to wear, then gave up and decided to choose what to wear after a shower.

"Hey, Rox, what's up? You're never alive and moving this early. Are you going somewhere after school?" Sora asked when Roxas returned to their room from the bathroom in his boxers, still wet from his shower. Then, the brunet scrunched up his nose and tilted his head to the side as he continued. "Actually, aside from just that, you hardly ever care about what you wear, especially for school. Why the sudden change of heart?"

Roxas snorted at his twin in response, but on the inside he prayed that Sora wouldn't figure it out. "I'm just trying to find some of my clothes since you love to put yours _everywhere_. I would prefer not to wear your clothes; they always make me look like such a faggot."

Sora pouted at this and put his hands on his hips. "That's not a nice word, Roxas. Here," the brunet started to climb down the ladder from his bunk to the floor, "I'll help you find something 'manly.' Or maybe something that just looks good. The universe knows how bad you are with your own fashion choices."

In response, Roxas rolled his eyes. Still, he let Sora give his input and soon he had a spiffy little getup that took more time to put together than the blond was proud of. In all honesty, though, it actually looked pretty good and Roxas was impressed by Sora's fashion sense. Then again, most of his twin's friends were shallow motherfuckers who had nothing better to do than discuss fashion.

After getting dressed, Sora insisted that he help his brother do his hair, which made Roxas a little uneasy, considering the brunet's usual bird-nest of a style. Still, it was impossible for him to resist Sora's puppy dog pout. In the end, Roxas was very pleased with the result and that surprised him for some reason. Sora had done a pretty good job. Of course, this generosity did come with a price.

"So, why exactly do you want to look all pretty? Do you have a date after school? If you have a date, you better tell me all about it! It's, like, a rule or something. It's in the twin handbook." The twins were sitting in the kitchen by this time having toast and hot chocolate.

"It's _not_ a date," Roxas groaned, hating the fact that he had to lie to Sora. If Sora didn't hate Axel so much, then maybe this wouldn't be so difficult. It felt wrong to lie to his twin about something so important and so significant in the blond's life. At the same time, though, it was for everyone's good, not just his and Axel's. "Look, I would really appreciate it if you would stop pestering me about it."

Sora humph'ed and put his hands on his hips. "Well fine, but just tell me; is your not-date a beautiful man?"

Roxas laughed at this. "I'm absolutely _shocked_ that you're dropping the details so quickly. What's gotten into you? Where's the Sora I know? Surely this can't be him!"

It was the brunet's turn to laugh. Then his face turned solemn and he locked eyes with Roxas. In his most serious voice, he responded, "I just realize that you're growing up, and though I may have to share you with a few beautiful men, you'll always be my uterus-buddy." It only took a few seconds of silent, intense staring for Sora to break out laughing, Roxas following soon after.

"Well, to answer your question, he is a _very_ beautiful man." And that pretty much ended their conversation. Not long after that, Zexion was knocking at the Strifes' door and thus began another boring day at school.

* * *

><p>The moment Roxas entered Axel's truck after school, the redhead pulled Roxas into an awkward hug over the middle compartment between the driver's seat and the passenger's seat. Roxas took in his scent and instantly felt comfortable enough to fall asleep in his arms. It didn't help that since Axel was bigger, he could wrap completely around the blond like a blanket.<p>

"Hey, Rox," Axel greeted, his throat sounding dry. Despite this, there was a huge smile on the redhead's face and it made Roxas smile as well. '_God, __you __look __so __good __today__…_'

"Hey, Ax. So what's on the agenda? I have some pretty high expectations for today, so it better be fucking awesome," he said, just to put more pressure on his secret boyfriend. Really, Axel was too adorable when flustered and under pressure for the blond to resist.

Axel chuckled nervously. "Yeah, don't worry, it'll be fun."

The ride to wherever their destination was turned out to be a tad awkward because Axel was too panicky to say anything, and Roxas didn't have much to say either. Axel ended up bringing Roxas to a mall, and the blond couldn't help but laugh at the cliché location for a date. Still, though, he was glad Axel had put in some effort. It took the blond a while to break the redhead out of his little bubble, but once that was finished, he had a lot of fun.

The pair window shopped and browsed in some stores, trying on hats and glasses and other silly things. Eventually, Roxas requested that they get something to eat, so Axel bought them giant pretzels and drinks, which they sat down to consume in the food court.

"You know, Axel, I'm kind of confused. You were, like, super forward before I agreed to go out with you and you even kissed me at Demyx's Halloween party. But now, you're all shy. What happened?" Roxas wondered before taking a sip of his root beer.

"I don't know, I guess I just realized how terrified I am of rejection," Axel responded with a shrug. "More specifically, rejection from you. I mean, who punches someone who just very tactfully and romantically kissed them? Honestly, Rox, who does that? You're gonna be a fucking psycho killer, I swear…" The redhead grinned despite his grumblings.

As Roxas imagined what the scene might've looked like to a third person viewer, he couldn't help but burst out laughing.

"It's not funny," Axel grumbled. "Actually, it really hurt. I can't believe you _punched_ me but still agreed to go out with me. I don't see the point in you punching me just to tell me you want to date me like two days later."

"I panicked, okay? Plus, I was very convinced that I wasn't interested in you at all. Like I said, you were really forward and it really irritated me. I've never really liked guys, or people in general, that are really in your face about things, especially when they refuse to communicate what exactly they want. If you had told me that you liked me instead of kissing me, I probably wouldn't have punched you. And up until that point you were really getting on my nerves trying to hold my hand and touching my knee when we were in Marluxia's car," Roxas responded as he tried to suppress his shit-eating grin. It was a little strange how much he disliked Axel's original advances on him, the blond admitted, especially when he turned right around and started dating him, albeit secretly.

"So no surprise kissing at all ever? Not even in the future? Won't your lips get lonely?" The redhead wondered.

The blond scoffed. "No, now I expect you to give me surprise kisses. If you don't, I might have to stab you in the throat. Understand, Axy-poo?" He batted his eyelashes at the redhead innocently.

"You're a cool kid." Axel smiled and continued to eat his pretzel in a somewhat sheepish manner.

The rest of the time spent at the mall was lovely, if not just because Axel was there. The really fun part came a little later when they left the mall and Axel drove Roxas to an apartment complex in a part of town he'd never been to before. The redhead explained that he lived there and that he and the blond could hang out there until Roxas had to leave.

Before they even left the car, though, Axel grabbed the blond by the shoulder and forced him to look at the redhead. From there, the kissing began. At first they were gentle, sweet kisses, but then they slowly grew into deep, passionate kisses that were better than any others Roxas had had before. The blond was so completely taken in by Axel's warmth and gentleness that he couldn't help but submit. He didn't even mind it when the redhead practically threw him into he backseat and then climbed on top of him before connecting their lips again.

What ensued was a very pleasant make-out session that Roxas could only describe as nice. There was no pressure to go further than kissing and it felt so natural to the blond that he locked his arms around the redhead and refused to let go. During this intimate session, both Axel and Roxas broke apart a few times to kiss other areas, like their necks, ears, and cheeks. No kisses ever trailed down as far as their collarbones, but that only enforced the fact that this was supposed to be pressure-free.

The whole thing surprised Roxas because they'd barely kissed at all during his punishment. It was a good surprise, to be sure, but surprising all the same. Roxas decided that he really liked Axel's resolution to be spontaneous and follow up on his promise of surprise kisses. In fact, Roxas decided that he was in serious like with this boy.

Eventually, Axel pulled away from good and sat up on top of Roxas, squashing the blond's legs underneath him. "Alright, Rox, come on. I'll show you my pad." The redhead wiggled his eyebrows at the blond, causing him to laugh.

Roxas slid his bottom half out from under Axel and then pushed him against the wall of his pickup truck, making the redhead smack his head against the window. "Alright, but it had better be pretty gosh darn groovy."

Axel whimpered and rubbed the back of his head. "Okay, so Reno's probably home about now. Ignore everything he says. I told him you were coming over, so he should be on his best behavior, but if he gets creepy, you just tell me, alright?"

"Reno?"

"My dad."

"Oh," Roxas thought it was very strange for someone to call their father by name, "does he know about us? Or that you're gay? Or are you bisexual?" Roxas wondered as the two of them climbed out of the truck.

A sigh escaped the redhead's lips. "Yeah, I told him about us. Sorry, but I couldn't keep it in! I _had_ to tell someone! Plus, it's not like he's gonna tell anyone. And yes, he knows that I am 100% gay." There was a pause. "I'm guessing no one else knows you're gay."

Roxas scoffed at the fact that Axel had breached their agreement and told someone about their relationship. He couldn't be too angry, though, because he probably would've told his father too if he was in the same position. "The only people who know for sure I'm gay are you, Sora, and Zexion. Oh, and Hayner. He knows I'm gay, too. So what's your dad like? Anything like you?"

For some reason, this made Axel snort and grin. "You'll see for yourself, home dog."

"What about your mom?" They were inside the apartment complex by this point navigating their way through the lobby.

"My mom's not really in the picture," the redhead responded nonchalantly in a way that made Roxas uncomfortable as well as curious.

"Divorce?" the blond wondered, hoping he wasn't overstepping some sort of personal boundary. They were approaching the elevator at this point. It made Roxas feel even weirder when he and Axel stopped briefly as the redhead locked eyes with him for a moment. They'd stopped because they were waiting for the elevator doors to open.

"She's dead." Then, just like nothing had ever happened, Axel continued on into the elevator, leaving Roxas momentarily shocked.

Roxas didn't bring it up after that, feeling very, _very_ uncomfortable. He entered the metal enclosure and waited out the most awkward silence in his young life. The blond grew nervous when he realized he would be meeting Axel's father, who knew he would be meeting his son's boyfriend. In Destiny Islands, Roxas had met his girlfriends' parents and it had been no big deal because he didn't particularly care if they didn't like him. In this case, though, it mattered to him. He wanted Axel's father to like him because if he didn't, then his relationship with Axel could become strained.

The redhead didn't seem to be worried about this at all, his forehead expressing that he wanted to continue making out with the blond. It was weird how Axel could be so relaxed while Roxas was absolutely terrified. What if Axel's father didn't like him? What if he got kicked out of the Flynn household and forbidden from ever passing through their threshold ever again? They were silly worries, but Roxas was still horrible at meeting people. He didn't really know how one should act when meeting their lover's parent. He had to be polite, definitely, but how polite was too polite or not polite enough?

At the back of Roxas' mind, he hoped that Axel's father would be in a different room than the one they entered so that he would have some time to take in the surroundings before having to meet him. Unfortunately, that was not the case. It seemed as if Axel's father had been waiting for them to show up because when Axel opened the door to his apartment, there was a man sitting on the couch of the very first room. This man looked strikingly like Axel, so Roxas could only conclude that this was Axel's father.

It appeared that he'd been waiting for them because he wasn't doing anything. There was no book or magazine in his lap and the TV that was across from the couch wasn't turned on. There wasn't even any music playing in the house. He was just sitting there with a grin on his face. As far as looks went, Axel's father was way above average, almost attractive as his son, if not more so just because he was a fully developed man. He looked very young, Roxas noted, for a parent. He couldn't be more than 35 years old. The tattoos around his eyes did nothing to remedy this.

"Oh, hey, Axel, I didn't realize you were coming home so soon!" Axel's father, Reno, exclaimed as the couple entered the humble living room. Its lack of decorations made it horribly plain. It looked rather unloved with its eggshell walls and beige carpeting. The only furniture in the room aside from the couch was the TV and its stand as well as a little umbrella holder that was next to the front door.

Axel looked very unamused with his father's claim. '_Bullshit._' He rolled his eyes but didn't comment on it. "Yeah, so Reno, this is Roxas." The redhead pulled the aforementioned teen out from behind him, where he'd been hiding. He grabbed him by the wrist and forced him to fully enter the home.

Reno stood up and gazed at Roxas in his entirety with rapt interest. His stare was so intense that it felt to Roxas like he was being violated. Unfortunately, the man's thoughts were moving too fast for Roxas to really read anything. "So this is Roxas, hmm? He definitely looks like… something," he said as he finished his inspection of the blond. "I approve." He gave a decisive nod. "It's nice to meet you, Roxas." Then he proffered his hand out for the blond to shake.

It took a moment for Roxas to swallow his nerves enough to actually speak. "It's nice to meet you, too, Mr. Flynn," he managed to say as he grabbed the redhead's hand. They shook and Roxas' hand was thoroughly squished in Reno's larger hands.

"Oh, call me Reno. I don't want to be associated with my father in any way, shape, or form." Then the redhead turned to his son with a grin. "I'm impressed, Axel. You sure picked up one cute kid. I never thought you'd go for someone cute like him. You were so into… sexy guys, I guess."

This made Axel pout in response to his father and Roxas felt very out of place. "Shut up, Reno," he grumbled as he rested his hand on Roxas' shoulder as if to protect him. "He _is_ sexy. And don't you have something better to do instead of badgering my boyfriend?"

"Of course not! I wanna get to know him better. Is that a crime? Hmm? I can't get to know my son's own boyfriend a little bit?" Reno kept eyeing Roxas periodically and it made the blond very uncomfortable. He didn't really like this conversation or the fact that they were talking about him almost as if he wasn't there. Luckily, Axel seemed to notice his discomfort.

Without warning, the redhead began walking deeper into the apartment and past his father, guiding Roxas along beside him. "Well, he doesn't want to get to know you. Look how much you scared him! We're gonna go hang out in my room. See ya later, Reno!" And with that, Axel guided Roxas down a short hallway to Axel's room.

Of all the ways Roxas could've imagined the redhead's private living quarters, it would never have been the way it looked when he told Roxas to make himself comfortable while he went to the bathroom. The blond was very surprised when he opened the door and it was 1) fairly neat 2) devoid of foul odors 3) filled with French propaganda posters 4) also filled with pony merchandise. What the room lacked in size it made up for in a homey feeling.

The bed in the middle of the room pushed up against a wall creaked when Roxas sat on it and smelled distinctly of Axel. It made Roxas want to bury his face in the sheets and pillow and just inhale Axel's scent, but that would've been weird, so he busied himself with gazing over the room.

Two dressers were pushed against opposite walls and there was a desk next to one of them with a desktop computer on it. It was currently off and tempted Roxas to turn it on and see what kinds of things Axel had on his computer. He resisted that temptation as well and glanced over the posters and the floor because the two dressers, desk, bed, and the small-ish TV resting on the dresser across from the bed were really the only furniture in the room. A few articles of clothing littered the floor, making it look mildly messy, but Roxas didn't mind. It was better than Sora's room had been in Destiny Islands (Roxas made sure the brunet put his clothes away now that they shared a room).

Finally Axel returned and closed the door behind him. His face held some degree of nervousness and he looked a little embarrassed as he joined Roxas on the bed. "Sorry for the mess. I forgot to clean it…" He sheepishly scratched at the back of his neck.

Roxas shook his head. "No, it's fine. I don't really mind at all." There was an awkward pause after this, neither of them really knowing what to say. Part of Roxas was tempted, much more so than earlier, to simply lie down on the queen-sized bed and beg Axel to make a mess of him. He knew the redhead would gladly oblige him, but he was too terrified to offer himself up like that. Plus, Reno was there and could burst in at any moment. He already wasn't particularly certain if the man liked him and he had a feeling that getting it on in Axel's bed while he was home wouldn't bode well with him.

"So what now?" the blond wondered.

Axel glanced at Roxas as he leaned back against his pillows. A grin settled on his lips and he opened his arms, silently requesting for Roxas to cuddle with him, which he did. "I don't know. How ever will us two healthy, gay teenagers pass the time? Don't you have any," Axel paused to inhale a whiff of the blond, "ideas?"

Heat flooded to Roxas' face and he swallowed thickly. His and Axel's eyes were locked in a heated staring match. As sarcastically as he possibly could, Roxas asked, "Did you just… sniff me?"

The redhead's face turned a color that rivaled with the shade of Roxas' face. He shoved the blond off of him and humph'ed. "Whatever, Roxas, ruin _all_ my dreams!" With that, he let out a fake sob and turned to face the other way. "I'm just gonna cry for all eternity!"

"_All_ your dreams?" Roxas giggled and draped himself over the redhead so that they were face to face again. He took the redhead's chin into his hands and rested his forehead against Axel's. "Well, if you sniffed me, do I at least smell good? It would suck if I smelled like dog buns."

"_All_ my dreams. All of them. And yes, you smell very good. Dog buns not detected." Axel pouted and attempted to cross his arms over his chest. Unfortunately, Roxas was in the way, so he ended up resting his arms on top of the blond.

Another heated staring match ensued and Roxas gazed into Axel's acidic green eyes while Axel gazed into Roxas' oceanic blue eyes. The blond periodically shifted his gaze from Axel's eyes to his lips. He wanted to press his own to them so badly, but he felt as if he couldn't move because Axel's stare held him in place. Before Roxas even knew it, Axel was sitting up and he was in the redhead's lap. Their staring continued, which was probably the reason the blond hadn't realized they'd even moved at all.

A particularly dirty fantasy began to unfold inside Roxas' imagination, making his cheeks flush red. He finally broke the staring match by burying his head into Axel's neck and shoulder. It was about then that the blond realized how rapidly his heart was beating and had been beating for the past few minutes. He wrapped his arms around Axel and snuggled further into his secret boyfriend.

"Axel, I think I like you," Roxas murmured quietly. No one had ever had this effect on the blond, and he really enjoyed all the things he was currently feeling. He felt so comfortable and like he fit perfectly with Axel, especially snuggled up to the redhead as he was.

There was a scoff in response. "Really, Roxas? I hadn't noticed," Axel's voice teased. He pulled Roxas from his body so that he could gaze into the blond's eyes once more. Neither of them said anything in response to that because they'd already forgotten what had been said, completely focused on each other.

Very slowly, so slowly Roxas didn't realize it at first, the two began to lean into each other. Roxas' entire body tingled when their noses brushed and every butterfly on earth decided to fly away in his stomach. His eyes were closed, and all his other senses could pick up was Axel. He could smell the cinnamon and ash, hear the redhead's breathing, feel himself trapped in his arms, and taste the redhead's lips as they pressed together.

Before Roxas could fully enjoy the kiss, the door slammed open, startling both Axel and Roxas so that they broke apart immediately. Roxas didn't really know how it happened, but in their surprise, him and Axel sprang away from each other. The blond was mortified to find that Reno was standing at the door with a scary grin on his face. His brain was too frazzled to determine whether he was angry or if he could be something else.

"Hey, kids! Are you having an awesome, clean time? I sure hope so!" Reno wondered, sounding far too enthusiastic and happy. "What's wrong, you two? You both look a little embarrassed! I didn't interrupt something, did I?" he wondered innocently.

"Reno…!" Axel seethed. Though Roxas couldn't see the redhead's face, he knew Axel must've been _pissed_.

Roxas concluded at that moment that he didn't really like Reno. Actually, he didn't like Reno at all. The redhead just rubbed him the wrong way. It might've been just because the redhead was trying to irritate him because he didn't actually approve of the blond. Still, Roxas didn't like liars. Especially liars who lied about things that would be better left unsaid.

Cordially, Reno asked, "Roxas, would you like to join us for dinner? It's getting kind of late."

Axel looked intently at the blond as if terrified of what Roxas would say.

The blond tried to ignore the guilt he felt about letting Axel down. "Actually," he breathed, trying to calm himself, "I should probably go. My parents will worry." Liars deserved to be lied to. The truth of the matter was Roxas didn't want to be in this place any longer. He didn't want to be in such a place of discomfort or in the presence of someone who made him uncomfortable.

When Roxas stood up and began heading towards the door, it took him everything he had not to glare at Reno and sneer at him and tell him the rudest things he could think of. He kept his head down so that his anger and embarrassment couldn't be seen. Of course, Axel and Reno trailed after him as he progressively walked faster towards the front door of the apartment.

"Roxas, I'll drive you home!" Axel offered.

"I'll walk," Roxas replied.

Axel grabbed him by the shoulders before he could open the door and leave. "This isn't the safest part of town…"

"I don't care." _I__'__d __rather __be __kidnapped and __then __sold __for __drugs __than __stay __here_, he didn't say.

"C'mon Rox, it's dangerous! I'll give you a ride, okay?" he offered worriedly. '_God, __Reno, __why __did __you __have __to __fuck __everything __up?_'

"No." And with that, Roxas wrenched himself from Axel's grasp and quickly escaped through the front door. He ran down the hall and then down three flights of stairs, Axel somewhere behind him as he went. He knew Axel would be following him, so he hid in a utility closet. Why was Roxas running from Axel exactly? Even though it wasn't Axel's fault, he wanted the redhead to worry. He wanted him to feel guilty enough that he never made the blond come back to his apartment ever again. Aside from that, it would hurt Roxas' pride to accept a ride from the son of this man who looked down on him. Especially now, Roxas couldn't back out. It would hurt his pride twice as much now that he'd refused the ride multiple times.

When Axel passed the utility closet and Roxas was sure he'd already turned down the hall to head out the front door of the lobby, he left the closet. He hurried to find an alternate exit. Luckily, there was a side exit that spit him out into the parking lot of the establishment. He heard Axel calling his name outside, and had to hide behind a few cars so that the redhead wouldn't see him, but he snuck away eventually.

Once he'd caught his breath and was certain Axel wouldn't follow him any longer, he realized he had no idea where he was. The buildings and streets all around him were unfamiliar and he wasn't sure which way Axel had driven them from. Roxas grew scared, especially because it was around 6PM and already dark outside. It wasn't a good situation for him to be in. He refused to go back to Axel's apartment, though. He grew hopeful that he could call someone, maybe his father, and he could come pick him up, so he pulled out his phone. It was dead.

Roxas took a moment to stop, calm down, and formulate a plan. He decided he would just continue walking down the sidewalk until he saw a gas station. From there, he could ask for directions. There wasn't anyone walking around outside that Roxas could see, so finding a gas station was his best bet. So he continued walking down the street looking around for a gas station or even anything mildly familiar.

About an hour passed, and Roxas had made no progress. He was still walking along without a clue as to where he was going. As he passed by an alleyway, he noticed a bit of movement at the back of it. Hoping it was just a cat or something, he sped up his pace. However, when he looked out of the corner of his eye a few moments later, it was a man. The man was following Roxas. He looked to be middle-aged, but not like a homeless person. He was dressed in clothes that were in good condition, though they weren't fancy clothes. There was a glint in his eye and a look on his face that told Roxas he was bad news.

Terrified, he began to walk even faster. Maybe the man _wasn__'__t_ following him. Maybe he was just walking the same direction. He turned a corner once he got to one and began to run. The man was still behind him and now running as well. Fearing for his life, Roxas sprinted faster than he ever had, turning corners, going through relatively safe-looking alleyways in hopes of giving the stranger the slip. Unfortunately, the man was hot on his heels.

"Hey!" The man's voice called. It was raspy and malicious-sounding, but there was pleasure in his voice. He was enjoying this.

Roxas didn't slow down or stop, but he couldn't go any faster. His heart was pounding in his ears and he was regretting turning down Axel's offer. He should've just swallowed his pride and accepted the goddamn ride. For fuck's sake, how could this even be happening to him?

As the blond was turning a corner and looking behind him at the man whom he'd gained a significant lead in front of, he ran into someone. He fell back onto his ass and yelped in surprise as he went.

"Roxas?" the person he'd run into asked. It was a familiar, male voice. "What are you doing all alone out here, lamer?"

Roxas looked up to see Seifer standing over him with Rai and Fuu at his sides. The blond scrambled to his feet and shuffled so that he was behind Seifer, using him as a human shield against the man, who turned the corner just then.

The man skidded to a stop and narrowly missed also running into Seifer.

"Is there a problem here?" Seifer demanded from the man.

The man looked absolutely terrified of the trio, especially as they cracked their knuckles and practically growled at him. "No! No problem at all!" With that, the man turned tail and sprinted back the way he came.

Once the man was out of sight, Seifer heaved a sigh and turned to Roxas, who was still freaking out. He had begun hyperventilating. He tried to catch his breath and his face was bright with hysteria. His fingers were buried in his hair as he attempted to comprehend what exactly had just happened. "I just almost got raped, didn't I?" he managed to choke out, though it was a rhetorical question.

"Look, kid, calm the fuck down. Just breathe and tell me what the fuck you're doing out here alone," Seifer instructed. Roxas couldn't see it because he was too frenzied to notice, but there was worry on the older teen's face.

Finally, a few minutes later, Roxas got a hold of himself and 'calmed the fuck down' as Seifer had instructed. Finally, he could answer the older blond's question. "I ran away from Axel's house and then I got lost and I tried finding my way home because my fucking piece of shit phone is dead, but then that guy started following me and I just fucking ran for like 30 minutes straight!" He was still a little hysterical.

Seifer took a moment to glance at Rai and Fuu. They had a silent conversation with their eyes, but no one said anything aloud. "Alright, lamer, we're gonna drive you home since you probably wouldn't be able to find it without getting raped at least once. And you better not refuse, know why?"

The fact that the older teen was planning to help Roxas confused him. "Uh, why?" he asked.

"Because you're Demyx and Naminé's friend. I feel _responsible_ for you. If we ignored you and kept doing our own thing and something happened to you _I__'__d_ feel responsible for not doing anything, which is a problem. So, come on now, little lamer. Let's go." The trio began walking the direction opposite the one they'd originally been heading in and Roxas tripped over himself to catch up. "You owe me a fuck ton for doing this for you," the older blond growled.

Relief washed over Roxas finally as a delayed reaction. As his adrenaline rush wore off, fatigue hit him and he gave a small smile of appreciation. "Thanks, Seifer. If you don't mind, could you keep this to yourself? Don't tell even Demyx or Naminé."

The response was a scoff. Seifer didn't look at him as he responded, but Roxas could tell he felt a little sheepish about the situation. "Like I would. You'd better not tell anyone either."

The ride home was awkwardly quiet. The only direction Roxas needed to give to get to his house was that he lived right next to Zexion. This left Roxas to contemplate what had just happened as he looked out the window in the backseat of Seifer's silver Chevrolet Avalanche. It was a little ridiculous how he had such a new, expensive car despite only being 18 years old. The Almasy family must've been positively rolling in dough to be willing to buy it for him.

When Roxas entered his house, he wasn't exactly expecting a warm reception, but he wasn't expecting that no one would care, either. This was probably because it was very tense in the Strife household from the moment Roxas entered. They were having dinner about now—the blond could smell it—so he headed into the kitchen and dining area to find that it was absolutely quiet. Roxas grabbed his plate and sat down at the dinner table and no one said a thing.

That was when Roxas realized how silent Sora was. He studied his twin for a moment and realized that the brunet was looking down at his plate, but not eating at all. In fact, his arms were crossed and resting on the table. When the brunet sensed that Roxas was staring at him, he glanced up at him. There was a solemn expression on Sora's face. As he and Roxas locked eyes, though, the brunet's face began to morph into a very ugly expression that Roxas absolutely _hated_ on his twin. Sora began to cry. And not just cry; bawl.

Everyone at the table flung into caring and nurturing mode. "Sora, what's wrong, sweetie?" "Do I need to kick someone's ass?" "What the fuck happened!" Questions like these filled the air as Sora tried to contain himself.

He took a deep breath and frowned as he wiped away his tears. "I don't want to talk about it right now. I'll tell you later, Roxas." He gazed into his twin's eyes as if to tell him it was a secret. '_It__'__s __Riku, __again._'

* * *

><p>"Sora, what the fuck happened? Did Riku hurt you? I'll fucking kill him if he did!" Roxas demanded some time later after dinner was over. They were in their room with the door closed. Sora sat on Roxas' bunk, and the blond came over to join him after he locked the door. He pulled the brunet's head against his shoulder when he situated himself next to his twin.<p>

Sora let out a few whimpers that turned into full-blown sobs. He wrapped his arms around Roxas and tightly gripped at his brother. "Riku! He…," he paused to hiccup, "I lost my chance… with him!"

"What do you mean? What happened?"

Sora pulled away from Roxas' shoulder so that he could look his brother in the eye. "Well, we were just talking at nutrition and we were walking together and then he got a call from this girl… And I think… they were probably confirming plans for a date… And before you say that I don't know for… sure that it's a date, it _is_ a date! … Riku told me he had a date with her… So I… texted the girl… and… and… look!" The brunet offered out his cell phone for Roxas to take.

The blond took the device and found the most recent texts from a girl Roxas didn't recognize the name of. The series of texts basically confirmed that there was a date and then Sora wished her the best on the date and told her that Riku was a great catch, but really lonely. He hummed quietly as he returned the cell phone and continued to comfort his crestfallen brother.

"It's okay, Sora… High school relationships hardly ever work out. They'll probably realize they don't like each other before long. Then you'll have your chance! It'll be okay. And even if you can't have Riku, there are plenty of other good-looking, nice guys out there looking for someone as cute and adorable as you!"

Sora sniffled and shook his head slowly. "None like Riku…" he mumbled. "I really like him, Rox. I think I love him…"

"There'll be others, Sora…"

Sora got angry at this. He glared at Roxas with his tear-stained cheeks burning bright red. "Don't you get it, Roxas? I don't _want_ others! I want Riku!" He buried his face in the blond's shoulder once more. "And I thought that maybe he liked me at least a little bit… God, I'm so stupid! I should've confessed to him while I had the chance!"

There was nothing Roxas could say at that point. It was just a shitty situation that didn't make much sense. The blond had been almost 100% positive that Riku had a crush on Sora. It made no sense for him to go on a date with this other chick if he really liked Sora. Anger burned at the blond's stomach. Why had Riku led his twin on? He'd always flirted with his brother and treated him like he was made of glass. It pissed Roxas off to think that that had all been a lie.

Eventually, Sora cried himself to sleep in his twin's arms, so the blond tucked him into his bed. He decided to go to sleep, too, lest something happen to make this day any worse than it already was. In the end, he slept curled up with his twin. It was a good thing that tomorrow was the last day of school before break. Finally, Roxas would have some time to relax and recharge his mind.

* * *

><p>The next day Zexion told Roxas that Demyx was going to give him a ride and that he was welcome to join them. Roxas agreed because Axel was with them. In addition to that, though, Sora asked if he could go with them (obviously not wanting to get a ride from Riku). So the four of them piled into Demyx's car, Zexion and Demyx in the front seats and Axel, Roxas, and Sora in the back seats.<p>

Axel kept staring at Roxas, hoping to get his attention. The blond refused to look at him, however. He wanted to wait at least until Sora was gone to talk about yesterday. He didn't need Sora getting all suspicious, especially since the brunet knew that he'd had a date the previous day. Luckily for him, Axel kept his mouth shut.

When they arrived at school, Sora left to go to his first period class even though it wouldn't be starting for another 20 minutes at least. This allowed Roxas to go to his locker alone, which enabled Axel to follow him and finally they could discuss yesterday.

"Roxas, I'm so glad you're okay!" the redhead began. "I was really worried that you'd gotten kidnapped or something or that you'd gotten lost! God damn it, why didn't you just accept the ride! You have no idea how fucking _scared_ I was!" he growled as they arrived at the blond's locker. Without even thinking about it, Axel wrapped his arms around Roxas and gave him a bone-crushing hug.

Once Axel was finished squeezing the life out of him, Roxas scoffed. He finally looked at Axel's face and realized how serious he was. "Whatever, I got home okay, so it's no big deal." Guilt made his stomach feel heavy. He'd wanted Axel to worry, but now he felt bad about it. The redhead had been so genuinely worried that it struck a chord inside Roxas. Usually no one worried over Roxas' well-being, so it was nice that Axel did at least. It made him feel loved.

Axel frowned at Roxas and rested his hands on the blond's shoulders. "I'm really sorry about yesterday, okay? Reno was way out of line and I'm so _pissed_ at him! Fucking Christ, you wouldn't believe how angry I am at him." His expression was so apologetic that Roxas practically melted on the spot. "Look, kid, I just want you to know how sorry I am. I wouldn't have brought you over if I knew he'd act like that and I just… I just really hope you're not too mad at me."

The entire situation touched Roxas and he couldn't help but smile at the redhead. "I'm not mad… anymore. And I forgive you. You're too adorable when you're guilty for me _not_ to forgive you. Come on, bro, let's hug it out," Roxas said with a grin. He hugged the redhead and reveled in the comfort and warmth he had to offer. He couldn't imagine ever getting tired of being held by Axel.

For the rest of the day, Sora followed Roxas around, not wanting to be around Riku. Of course, the silverette followed the brunet around even when he was asked to leave him alone. At lunch, Sora finally convinced him to go away. Riku seemed confused and worried about why Sora was ignoring him again and had asked him to go away. It seemed he didn't quite understand why Sora was upset, which angered Roxas further. He didn't say anything, though, as Sora requested when he first noticed the blond was about to lose his temper.

Today the swim team didn't have practice after school because it was the last day before break and they'd had a little Thanksgiving party. Because of this, Roxas, Axel, and Zexion were able to convene together after school in a group with Riku, Sora, and Demyx. Riku had decided to tag along with them (despite Sora's protest) along with Naminé, Marluxia, and Larxene. They were about to leave the school to go hang out and get ice cream to celebrate when something happened.

There they were, just the nine of them walking and minding their own business, towards the entrance of the school to the student parking lot. Roxas had been talking to Naminé and Sora when Marluxia pointed out that there was someone waiting by the gate to the student parking lot with a big ass duffle bag with him. Roxas looked over to locate the person. The moment he saw the person, his heart began to race. Sora seemed to be having the same reaction because he idly heard his twin's breath hitch.

The twins sprinted as fast as their legs could take them to the guy with the duffle bag. He had dirty blond hair and brown eyes and was wearing camouflage capris and a grayish vest over a black tank top. On his face was a smirk that Roxas could never have forgotten.

"Hayner?"

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **SUSPENSE!

Here's the French convo. Please note that the terms of endearment used are actual terms of endearment that French ppl actually use. It's so cute.

Axel: You understand?

Roxas: Yes, I understand. Good night, my little pig.

Axel: Good night, my sugar angel.

Well, exciting schtuff happened in this chapter and that is why it is so long and I couldn't break it up. It all kinda of flows into each section. But yeah. Some AkuRoku fluff and SoRiku drama and (literally) dirty Zemyx love. And—what? Hayner? WHAT IS GOING I DON'T EVEN. But I do even. I wrote it. Oops. (Hint: Keep an eye on Seifer)

Alright, that aside, I just want to address you ppl for a moment and let you know that, yes, I realize I haven't explained why Tifa hates Roxas yet, but don't fret. I have an entire outline for this story written out and that is one of the major plot points. I haven't gotten to that part yet, however. It is still coming so please do not worry your pretty little heads!

If I don't have the next chapter ready before Christmas, then merry Christmas! And also happy Hanukkah and Kwanzaa, but I have a feeling I'll have a chapter up before Hanukkah and Kwanzaa end. So yeah. If there are any other holidays that take place about now, then I hope you enjoy that as well. Yups.

Love you all each and every one~ Kisses~


	19. Fire Crotch

**A/N: **Hello to you! How are you? Doing well? I am! Did you have a nice holiday? Mine was a lovely secular Christmas~ Get good presents? I received some good presents, including a Shake Weight. So ridiculous, I swear!

Holiday joy aside, I have here a nice, new chapter for your reading pleasure!

Thank you to everyone who reviewed and favorited and alerted this story! It makes my heart tingly inside, especially since I'm not one of those authors that requires a certain amount of reviews for the next chapter (Ugh, I hate those kinds of authors). Nothing forces you to share your enthusiasm and constructive criticism, so I really do appreciate it~ -kisses-

Kingdom Hearts © Disney and Enix

* * *

><p>Following Sora and Roxas, their seven friends approached Hayner and the twins. All of them were confused, not quite sure what exactly was happening. They all (except for Riku) knew who Hayner was, but were confused as to why he was here.<p>

"Hayner, I missed the shit out of you!" Roxas cried as he threw his arms around the sandy blond.

Hayner didn't reply verbally. He did, however, return Roxas' embrace with a chuckle. After a good round of death hugging, it was Sora's turn to hug Hayner. Sora squealed excitedly when the sandy blond returned his hug and began jumping up and down in his arms.

"I missed you too, Sora," Hayner said with a snigger.

Sora's face turned bright red and he couldn't help but laugh as he buried his face into Hayner's shoulder. "I'm never letting go now. Deal with it." The brunet's voice was muffled by the sandy blond's shoulder. And there he stayed, despite the strange looks everyone gave him.

"Wait, so who's that?" Riku wondered, thoroughly confused. '_And why the fuck is Sora putting his hands all over him?_'

"This is Hayner," Roxas said with a bright smile. He couldn't believe how happy he was that Hayner was _here_ in Radiant Garden. In fact, he was so happy that he didn't even notice Riku's thoughts. "He's from Destiny Islands and is my bestest friend ever in the whole wide world~!"

Roxas also didn't notice Zexion's expression take on a sour look. The bluenette frowned and gripped Demyx's hand tighter. "Come on, Dem, let's go. We have better things to do than stand around," he said with a tug of his boyfriend's arm.

Demyx smiled at him and shook his head. "No way! I wanna meet this kid! You can go wait in the car if you wanna, though. Here," he produced his car keys from his pocket and offered them to Zexion.

This made Zexion's frown deepen into a scowl. He tore the keys from Demyx. "_Thanks_," he snapped before tugging his hand away from his boyfriend and then storming off into the student parking lot, completely unnoticed by anyone (as they were so distracted by Hayner).

"Bros for life," Hayner elaborated as he and Roxas did a stupid little handshake that they'd come up with back in eighth grade. Sora was still attached to him like a little leech, but it didn't seem that he really minded all that much. Contrary to the fact that it didn't bother him, he asked Sora, "Are you finished yet?"

Sora giggled and shook his head. "That's what she said!"

Everyone introduced themselves to Hayner when Sora finally let him go. So that they didn't have to stand around in front of the school parking lot and block the way for other people, they decided to reconvene at Demyx's house, since it was the largest. It also helped that there would be no parental supervision.

Sora was very upset because he either had to ride with Marluxia, Larxene, and Naminé in the pinkette's car or ride with Riku since Roxas and Hayner were going to ride with Axel, Demyx, and Zexion and there wasn't enough space for an extra person. In the end, though, Sora finally stopped squabbling and agreed to ride with Riku, though it appeared Riku didn't really want to go to Demyx's house or get to know Hayner better like everyone else. Still, he couldn't deny Sora, so off they went.

Once at Demyx's house in their three-car procession, they all shuffled into the romping room and settled in the middle of the circle of sofas and chairs while Naminé and Demyx went to get junk food for everyone to stuff their faces with.

Everyone was curious about Sora, Roxas, and Hayner's lives in Destiny Islands, especially since none of them had really thought about it until now. Luckily, Hayner had been prepared for this. He explained that he, Pence, and Olette had compiled a bunch of pictures and videos of (mostly) Sora and Roxas while they lived in Destiny Islands on his laptop.

Being the rich fuck that he was, Demyx had a flat screen TV and some cables lying around so that they could plug the laptop into the TV. With the help of Axel and Marluxia, managed to take the huge flat-screen TV from the corner of the room and bring it more towards the couches so that everyone could see.

Many embarrassing pictures and videos were on the laptop, and both Roxas and Sora regretted a lot of the things that had been captured. Much of Roxas' awkward stage was on Hayner's computer, which was terrible because the blond had had braces and a mustache very reminiscent of Pedro from _Napoleon Dynamite_ because back then, he'd been too afraid to shave.

It wasn't all bad, though. There were a lot of pictures that Roxas absolutely _loved._ For example, there was this one picture that Olette had taken of him and Hayner. They'd bought sea-salt ice cream and wanted more, but they only had enough money to buy one if they put their money together. Being best friends, they decided to share, licking opposite sides of the popsicle. It looked somewhat sexual, especially with the way they were both looking at the camera, but it made Roxas laugh (he also noticed that Axel tensed up when he saw the picture, which made Roxas happy).

Roxas' favorite item on the laptop had to be a video of a prank he and Hayner had pulled on Sora. The blond had dressed up as Scream and taken a real butcher knife from their kitchen and then hidden behind a couch while Hayner knocked on the door. Sora went to answer it, of course, and when they entered the room, Roxas jumped out and screamed, flailing the knife wildly at his twin.

The poor brunet screamed so loud that it clipped the sound on the video and then scrambled to turn around the other way, only to be blocked by Hayner. Of course, Roxas and Hayner burst out laughing at that point and Roxas revealed his identity to his twin. A massive amount of tears followed, along with Sora angrily (while sobbing) storming to his room calling his twin and his twin's best friend jerks.

Another good, embarrassing video of Sora captured a certain instance in which the brunet had lost a bet with Hayner. The brunet's punishment for losing dictated that he wore cat ears, a cat tail, cloth cat paws, and drew whiskers on his face. Then Hayner made him beg and whine, and it cracked Roxas up. Poor Sora wanted to die, both then and now.

"You two were absolutely _horrid_ to Sora," Marluxia so rightly pointed out. Everyone chuckled in agreement. "I approve!" the pinkette exclaimed after a moment.

"How can you approve?" Riku demanded. He looked fairly upset with all of this, and Roxas didn't know why he would be so upset if he didn't have a crush on Sora. "This is terrible! What did Sora do to them?"

"Hey, what's your name, again?" Hayner asked, looking a bit wary of the silverette. Roxas knew why, of course. He'd known for a long time, thanks to his ability, both Hayner and Sora had had massive crushes on each other back in Destiny Islands. The blond sometimes wished that he'd gotten them together, but it went against his code of not using his knowledge for the advantage of others, even if it was good for everyone involved. "It started with an 'R,' right?"

Riku looked about as threatened as Hayner did territorial. The sandy blond had slinked his arm around Sora's shoulder some time during the exposition of the collection of memories, and now Riku was glaring at it and Hayner alternately. "My name is Riku," he replied.

Hayner burst out laughing. "Rikku? For real?" he asked. "Roxas, is that legit?"

Roxas grinned. "Yeah, his name's Riku. One 'K,' though. Still, it's funny, though, right?"

Sora huffed angrily. "No, you guys aren't gonna bring _that_ whole thing up, are you? Please don't! Is today Pick On Sora Day, or something? Come on, Rox, come on, Hay, have a heart!" he begged.

Everyone else was silent, wondering exactly what they were talking about.

Riku was as confused as everyone else. "What? Why is it funny?"

"Kill me now!" Sora groaned as he buried his head in Hayner's armpit.

"Tell me you have pictures of her, _tell me you have pictures_," Roxas begged as he snickered.

"Okay, _Riku_," Hayner began with a grin, "Sora's best friend in Destiny Islands is this girl named Rikku. Apparently your name only has one 'K,' but hers has two. Anyway, _this_ is Rikku." He scrolled through his numerous picture files before finding one of Rikku. It just so happened to be a somewhat slutty picture of her and Sora sticking their tongues out towards each other so that they almost touched.

Rikku was a blonde bombshell that had an aversion to normal clothing, opting to wear bikini tops and miniskirts whenever possible. She and Sora got along very well and she was part of the swim team back at DIHS. The blonde and the brunet were almost always together and there was a very popular mock rumor going around that the two were dating. It was never a legitimate rumor because it had been blatantly obvious to most on the island that Sora was gay. The pair had even referred to themselves as 'gal pals' on more than one occasion.

"They were dating pretty seriously, actually. Everyone knew it, even though they tried to keep it a secret," Roxas explained. "Right, Sora?"

The brunet erupted from Hayner's armpit and glowered at his twin, his face entirely red. "No! Not right at all! Rikku and I were besties, Roxas! We never did anything and we were never in a relationship! Rikku and I are, have always been, and _will always be __**nothing but friends**_!"

It was impossible for Roxas to miss the way Riku squirmed when Sora said it. He smiled at the silverette's reaction. He knew that Sora wasn't talking about him, but their names sounded identical when spoken aloud. The silverette deserved it for leading his twin on. That was still kind of fuzzy to Roxas, though. With all this new evidence, it pretty much proved that Riku was crushing on his twin. The blond decided to deal with the situation later.

In a stroke of brilliance, Demyx suggested that they all play 'Never Have I Ever,' which Roxas understood was Radient Garden's version of 'I Never.' So they decided to use the consumption of extra-salty pretzels as the punishment for having done the thing the current leader never had. The first person to take a drink of water was the loser.

Roxas couldn't say that he was surprised when most of the 'I Never's had to do with sex and sexual activities, which completely killed Marluxia and Larxene, which was not surprising either. The sexual questions also got Naminé, which surprised _everyone_ (except Marluxia and Larxene). Luckily, Demyx never realized when Naminé took a pretzel for the things she had done.

The game was somewhat awkward for Roxas when he tried to say 'I've never had sex,' and then Zexion interjected and asked, 'what kind of sex.' Sora (and Axel) was disappointed to learn that Roxas' mouth was no virgin. The brunet was also upset to learn that Riku was no virgin of any kind. Larxene lost in the end taking a drink of her water after she couldn't take anymore salt. Roxas thought that was ironic because semen tasted very salty.

"So, Hayner, where are you staying?" Naminé asked after the game had ended.

Hayner frowned and looked over at Roxas. "Actually, I was hoping to stay at Sora and Roxas' house. I don't have enough money to stay at a hotel."

"A sleepover!" Sora got excited very quickly. "That sounds awesome! It'd be like old times!"

"Well, actually," Hayner chuckled, "You'd have to hide me from your parents. I'm kind of not supposed to be here. I'm supposed to be spending a few days at Pence's house."

It didn't take long before Sora became upset upon hearing this. "You ran away from home? What if your mom finds out you're _not_ at Pence's house? She'll be so worried! How could you do that to her?"

"Look, she _won't_ find out! Pence and Olette are covering for me. Plus, you know I always stay at people's houses for days at a time. She'll never find out unless your parents catch me and call her."

Suddenly, the door to the romping room slammed open and Seifer walked in, which quieted everyone in a second. He looked a little surprised to see all the people that had come over, but didn't say anything. He did, however, slap a grin on his face and approach the circle, eyes glued to Roxas. When he reached the circle, he entered it and knelt down so he was eye-level with Roxas. "Hey, lamer." He paused for a moment to narrow his eyes at the blond and widen his grin. "You haven't forgotten that you owe me, have you?" He grabbed Roxas by the collar of his shirt.

Before he could say anything else, Hayner had smacked Seifer's hands away from Roxas and forced himself in front of his best friend to bar Seifer from getting to him. "Hey, who the hell do you think you are?" he demanded. '_Holy shit, who is this kid?_'

A fleeting look of surprise on Seifer's face melted into his usual smug face. "You know, it's only common courtesy to give your name before asking someone else's…. Chickenwuss."

'_God __**damn**__, he's hot…'_ "The name's Hayner, ass wipe. I'm Roxas' best friend visiting from Destiny Islands. What's your story, Princess?"

"I'm Demyx and Naminé's older brother, Seifer. A lot of people know me as their worst nightmare. Especially scrawny little runts like you and your boyfriend here." Seifer gestured crudely to Roxas. "If you get in my way, I'll fuck you up in a second, _Princess_."

Hayner scoffed at this. "I'm not afraid of you. All bark and no bite; I know the kind. Even if you _could_ bite, I guarantee you wouldn't win against me. I've been in more fights than I can count and I haven't lost once. I've trashed guys twice your size before; no problem. So unless you want to be humiliated by getting beaten up by a guy two years younger and probably an entire head shorter than you, I suggest you leave me and Roxas alone. Got that, _Seifer_?"

This made Seifer laugh. He began to casually leave the room, however. "Whatever, Chickenwuss. I'm sure. Anyway, I was just reminding Roxas that he _owes_ me. Now you remember, right, lamer?"

Roxas just nodded.

After Seifer left, everyone was a bit confused about what exactly had just taken place. "What do you owe my broski for?" Demyx wondered, speaking everyone's mind.

The blond ran a hand through his hair and sighed. "He did me a big favor. I'm not supposed to talk about it." He didn't mention that he didn't really want to talk about it, either.

The group returned to their previous conversation about how Sora and Roxas were gonna sneak Hayner into their house. Demyx had offered to let Hayner stay at their house so that they didn't have to sneak around, but Roxas rejected the idea. Instead, they decided to hide Hayner at Zexion's house until the Strife parents went to bed, assuming they were home. Hayner could share a bed with either Roxas or Sora and hide out in their room until it was all clear.

At that point, everyone decided it was time for them to go. Riku gave Sora, Roxas, Zexion, and Hayner a ride, leaving Axel and Larxene to Marluxia. Sora was upset about having to get a ride from Riku on the way back, but he didn't retaliate.

Luckily for Hayner, no one was home when they arrived at the Strife's house, so he didn't have to hide in Zexion's house, which was a good thing. Zexion seemed a little upset, but Roxas wasn't sure why. The bluenette had been short with him since they left for Demyx's house. The blond brushed it off as Zexion having a bad day. Nothing to get too worried about.

* * *

><p>The trio didn't spend long downstairs for fear that Cloud or Tifa would return while they were still there. After a quick tour of the house, they proceeded to lock themselves in the twins' room. Despite Sora's initial disapproval of Hayner's sneaking away, he was excited that he was staying with them. He promised to show Hayner all around Radiant Garden the next day because Cloud and Tifa were planning to go on an all-day hiking trip up in these mountains that were about an hour and a half away, meaning Sora could use the car they didn't take.<p>

Sora excused himself to go to the bathroom, so Roxas took the opportunity to tease Hayner about his altercation with Seifer. "So, Hayner, how about that Seifer?"

"What about him?" he retorted, though his cheeks turned the slightest bit pink.

"You're disgusting! I mean, Seifer? Really? Of all people, Hay? You're a fucking masochist, aren't you?" Roxas teased his friend.

"I don't know what the hell you're talking about, Roxas. I'm a sadist, anyway." The sandy blond's face was a deeper shade of pink now.

This made Roxas snigger and he grinned smugly at Hayner. "You have a thing for Seifer. I saw the way you looked at him. You want his ass, don't you? And not just his ass, but his heart, too."

The redness in Hayner's face betrayed his words. "No fucking way. He's such a tool. Did you see that beanie he was wearing? And that belly shirt? Such a fucking tool! Plus, he's totally not my type. Just because I maybe find his muscular arms very pleasing to look at does not mean I want to marry him and raise a family in a small house in Destiny Islands overlooking the ocean. That is not a thing."

"Well, for something that's not a thing, you've certainly thought this out pretty well. Don't tell me, it's love at first sight?" Roxas wondered.

Sora came in just as Hayner was about to explode. It was a good thing, too, because Roxas had been a bit worried Hayner's face would get so red that it turned blue. "Hayner, is something wrong?" Sora worriedly asked as he sat down on the floor with his brother and his former crush.

"Yes, Roxas is being a big fat jerk!" Hayner shouted before burying his burning face into Sora's shoulder.

The brunet chuckled uncomfortably. "Actually, I have something to tell you, Hayner." Sora removed the sandy blond from his shoulder. Roxas quirked an eyebrow as he watched. "Hayner, look, I used to have this crush on you, and I know that you had, and maybe still have, a crush on me. The thing is, I've moved on, and I don't like you anymore. There's someone," Sora paused to look down at the floor and blush, "someone that I like now. Actually, I think I love him."

Hayner just stared at the brunet with a blank look on his face. This prompted Sora to keep talking.

"See, when I saw you again and we hung out at Demyx's house, all the things I felt for you came flooding back to me and I was so happy. But just now, on the ride home when I was sitting next to the... new guy... I realized that the way I feel for you pales in comparison to the way I feel for him. And I'm actually in something of a fight with him right now and I know that he might not like me, but I would feel horrible stringing you along and pretending you still come first in my heart."

"So, are you, like, breaking up with me...? 'Cause we were never together, you know." Hayner informed him.

"Oh I know, I just figured I'd let you know since I was being so flirty with you earlier. And, so, yeah! We're cool, right?"

"Sora, don't worry about Hayner. He's already found new love. His name's Seifer. Maybe you've heard of him," Roxas interjected.

"Seifer?" Sora demanded, perplexed at the idea. He scrunched up his nose in displeasure. "Well, to each his own, I guess..."

"I am not in love with Seifer!" the sandy blond cried out in exasperation. "You're fucking crazy and delusional if you think otherwise." His face was red again. "And anyway, Sora, since when are you so verbal about being gay? Next you'll be telling me that Roxas came out to you!"

The twins glanced at each other, grins on their faces. "Well, actually..." They both said, trailing off in unison.

"No fucking way. Tell me Roxas is still deep inside the closet. So deep inside the closet. Please tell me these things."

"Around our parents, yes, but we are now open to each other about our shared fondness for male genitalia. But not all male genitalia. For example, jerk fire crotches have a thing for poor Roxas, but he doesn't like them. Not at all."

"Oh, that guy Axel? Axel wants you?" Hayner wondered. "Do you want him as well?"

"No, I do not want him." The blond shook his head and frowned. He opened his eyes and grinned at Hayner. "Sora's just scared that I'll start to like him because he likes me and Sora absolutely hates him. He's just being his overly protective brotherly self."

"No, Roxas! That's not it at all! I would hate Axel even if he didn't like my poor twin. But he does and I hate him even more for it. And anyway, Roxas is too good for that jerk. And he doesn't like Axel _that_ much. They're barely even friends. Right, Rox?"

"Right." Roxas just smiled at his twin. Oh, if only Sora knew.

* * *

><p>The next day, Sora took Hayner for a tour of Radiant Garden as he'd promised. Originally, Roxas was supposed to go with them, but upon realizing that he'd have the house all to himself for awhile, he bailed and invited Axel over to hang out unbeknownst to his twin.<p>

Axel pulled up within ten minutes and let himself inside the Strife household, which had scared the shit out of Roxas. "Jeez, Rox, you're so jumpy!" the redhead teased.

"Fuck off, asshole," Roxas grumbled. "You're not really supposed to be here. I don't know when Hayner and Sora will come back, so we have to be vigilant, alright fire crotch?" They were up in Roxas' room by now and Axel had made himself comfortable in the blond's bed already.

"Did you really just call me fire crotch? Would you like to verify the existence of my beautiful red pubic hair? I'll let you Rox. You are worthy to see its magnificence."

The blond rolled his eyes but smiled. He went to join his boyfriend on the bed. "That's what Sora called you yesterday. He told Hayner that I didn't like you and we were barely friends."

Axel grinned as he put his arms around the blond. He nuzzled his nose against Roxas' cheek. "How silly of him. I can't wait til the day comes when I can kiss your lights out right in front of him. And then I can force him to watch me go down on you and feel you up... And you'd be squealing underneath me, begging me to continue... to touch you." If not for the intense eye contact Axel had established with the blond, he would've thought he was spacing out. His hand was cradling the blond's cheek.

Roxas' face reddened considerably when Axel slowly began to stroke his cheek. "What if I'm not the one begging? What if I was on top of you, straddling you, calling you a dirty whore? You'd cry out every time I bit you and pulled your hair..." He was speaking in heated whispers, nuzzled against the redhead's ear. Gently, quickly, he ran his tongue along the ear.

"Oh, fuck, Rox... _Goooooood_, don't _tease_ me like that!" Axel's voice was huskier than usual. A part of his male anatomy was poking the blond, saying hello, making Roxas giggle even though it wasn't funny.

"Aww, why not, Axy-poo? Are you excited to see me? Hmm? Is it painful, baby?" He abandoned his embarrassment and physical attraction for the redhead in lieu of teasing him. "Do you want to touch me?" he asked, purposely shifting his body so that it rubbed lightly against Axel's little buddy.

"God, Rox, can I...?" Axel was practically drooling, completely intoxicated with the blond already. His hand was already making its way down the blond's body.

Roxas laughed as he smacked away the redhead's hand. "Of course not, fire crotch. Down, doggy, your time will come soon enough. Just not too soon. Or ever. Sorry."

Axel whimpered in reply. "And what makes you think I'll hold out until then? How do you know you'll be able to deny me what with my irresistible charm? How do you know I won't try anything? Hmm?"

Roxas kissed the redhead's nose. He searched Axel's green eyes without a trace of sarcasm. "Because you're a good boy and I trust you."

"Jeez Rox, way to make me feel guilty for wanting to defile you. Now I feel like a pedophile or something!" Axel pressed his forehead to the blond's. "Seriously, though, what is your policy about sex? Celibacy? Chastity?"

"No, not really either of those," Roxas shook his head gently. "I'm just waiting for that special someone and the right moment, you know? I don't want to throw away my virginity like it's nothing."

"Oh, so you're saying I'm not that special someone?" The redhead accused, tomfoolery glittering in his eyes. "Ouch Rox, that cuts deep."

The blond stuck his tongue out at Axel. "No, you butt. You are someone special, but I don't know if you're that special someone. We've been dating what like two and a half weeks? Yeah, I'm about ready to throw my clothes off. You're already someone special..." Roxas paused for a moment. "Someone special… Someone special, who could it be?"

Immediately, the redhead's eyes brightened and he grinned. "The job's too big for you and me," he continued.

"We need some help!"

"But never fear-o!"

"It looks like the job for a Higglytown hero!" They finished together, laughing to themselves. The couple snuggled closer and Roxas couldn't help but notice the contented smile on Axel's face. It wasn't a smirk or a grin, but a genuine smile that melted him. He planted a gentle kiss on the corner of Axel's mouth. "I love your smile."

In response, Axel licked his own mouth and reattached their lips. They exchanged chaste kisses periodically humming against each other's lips. Time escaped them and they lay there together, for what seemed like eternity, buried in each other's arms, attached at the mouths, smiling around each other's lips.

The door to the twins' room opened. It was loud enough for the mushy couple to hear, but not loud enough to scare them shitless as much as Reno had a few days prior. Of course, it was still frightening, and Roxas immediately broke the kiss and let go of Axel to see who it was. Luckily, it was only Hayner, so the blond heaved a sigh of relief.

"Roxas? You're a dirty fucking liar!" he cried, pointing an accusatory finger at the blond. "You said you didn't want him! You said you were barely friends!" Of course, the sandy blond said all this with mock-anger in his voice. Actually, he was smiling even as he said all this.

Roxas grinned and rolled over to sit on the edge of his bed, and Axel followed suit, but maneuvered himself behind and under the blond so that he was sitting in the redhead's lap. "That's a misconception. Roxas wants me the most. We're special friends, right, Roxy?" He rested his chin on Roxas' shoulder and awaited the blond's answer.

"Yeah, sure…" Roxas said, purposely making the redhead feel uneasy. "Where's Sora, by the way? If he catches Axel here, he's gonna throw a tantrum. And then he'll probably tell on me, and I really don't want that because I just got over a two and a half week long punishment and Axel would kill you if you sabotaged our sexy, turkey-filled break together."

"It's sexy?" he heard Axel mumble in his ear.

Hayner gave a semblance of a shrug. "Well, I don't know exactly where Sora went, but I know he went out with his friends, so he dropped me off here. Anyway, that doesn't matter. You have a god damn _boyfriend_ and you didn't fucking tell me? How the fuck dare you, you ass hat! I would have sent condoms for you, baby… By the looks of it, you'll need some Magnums…"

Of course, Axel grinned at this. "Fuck yeah, he will! Thanks kid, you just made my day!"

Roxas, on the other hand, broke out laughing, knocking the redhead down a peg. "Oh, _please_, more like extra small. Extra, extra small. Isn't that right, Axel? You and your little half-broken pencil dick? We should call him Tiny Tim. What do you think, sugar cube?"

The redhead sniffled a couple of times and pouted at his boyfriend. "Why don't you just love me?"

"Anyway, Hay, we're kind of a secret, so could you keep this to yourself? Tell no one. Especially not Sora. You already know how much he hates Axel. It's weird to think of Sora hating anyone, but he wasn't lying."

"Yeah, everyone in the Strife family hates me," Axel added with a frown. "Even the one that's supposed to feel the opposite."

"You know, Rox, I'm kinda surprised and impressed. You've been here for a few months and you already have an awesome group of friends _and_ a boyfriend. Radiant Garden's been good to you, by the looks of it. Wait, don't tell me; Tifa doesn't hate you anymore?" Hayner guessed, sitting down on the floor. Bitterness rimmed his words around the edges, tainting them, making them somewhat sarcastic.

The blond smiled warmly at his dear friend. "You know, Hay, as much as I like it here, I miss Destiny Islands twice as much. I mean, I don't know if you'd noticed but it's fucking _cold_ here and since it is so cold here, I don't get to see gorgeous, shirtless men randomly walking around. It's completely killed my libido, too, I swear!" Roxas paused for a moment and tried not to sound emotional as he gave a more legitimate reason as to why Roxas missed Destiny Islands. "And it's just not the same here without you…"

Hayner smiled and nodded, but there was sadness in his eyes.

* * *

><p>Hayner only ended up staying for a few days and he didn't get caught once, surprisingly. That probably had to do with the fact that he was always out of the house with Sora, Roxas, or both. Spending time with Hayner was very nice and brought back lots of memories for the twins. Having spent about four days with Hayner, Roxas was surprised with the sadness that overwhelmed him when the sandy blond had to leave.<p>

Sora and Roxas had accompanied Hayner to the train station. They said their goodbyes, exchanged hugs and wishes of good luck. Roxas had to comfort Sora, who was on the brink of crying, as they waved a final goodbye as the train rolled out of the station. Even when Axel (who'd driven them to the station) teased Sora about being a crybaby, he didn't get angry. In fact, it made the brunet's tears actually begin to fall.

"Look what you did, you big jerk!" Roxas had growled at the redhead whilst running his fingers through his twin's hair.

"Sorry! Jeez, how was I supposed to know he was such a baby?"

Needless to say, Axel was shunned for the remainder of the day, save for the occasional smacking Roxas gave him.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **I hoped you enjoyed this chapter! I wanted it to be longer, but there was just no way… It pretty much demanded to be ended right here, and you really shouldn't go along with the natural flow of a story, so yeah. It's not as long as I wanted it to be =T

You know, it's ironic because I always listen to music when I write, and multiple times while writing this chapter, 'I Saw it On Your Keyboard' by hellogoodbye came on, and it's ironic because I actually named this story after that song xD So yeah. That's like insider information. Behind the scenes extras type thing. Yup.

Anyway, if you loved it or hated it or you love me or hate me, then please tell me about it in a review~! When you tell me what you think, it gives me direction on how it should be written, so it's very helpful. Of course, you can also just alert and fave too. Though that's not as heartfelt and it's still part of the giving season, so yeah!

Happy remaining holidays~!

Love you, child~! Hugsssss~


	20. Y r u eating zexy's neck r u a vampire?

**A/N: **Well hey there! Sorry for taking such a long time on this chapter. It took a lot longer than usual to write this; I just wasn't motivated to write it Dx I left out a lot of details I wanted to put in because I thought this chapter was boring enough ugh.

Anyway, thank to all you lovely, lovely reviewers and readers and lovers of my story! Supes appreciate the love and such. Had a rough past few weeks, so they made me happy, ya know?

Hope you enjoy this chapter~!

Kingdom Hearts © Disney and Enix

* * *

><p>The urge to explore everyone else's powers led Roxas to seek out his partner in crime. Unfortunately for the blond, Zexion refused to answer his cell phone, which he never did. His phone couldn't have been off or dead because every time Roxas called, it didn't go straight to voicemail or ring a whole bunch of times before going to voicemail. No, it didn't do that. Instead, it rang maybe three or four times and then went to voicemail, meaning Zexion was deliberately not answering the phone.<p>

This drove Roxas to leave his house and walk next door. He stood somewhat awkwardly on the top step as he knocked the door and then waited. It was a few moments before Mrs. Corazza answered the door.

She looked rather surprised to see Roxas, but pleased all the same. "Oh, Roxas! It's nice to see you! What are you doing here?" she wondered with her kind smile in place.

Roxas thought it was obvious, but he decided to let it go. "Is Zexion here? He wouldn't answer his phone when I called him, so I got a little worried…"

"Oh, of course! How silly of me!" she laughed at her own expense for a moment. "He's here, darling. He's upstairs dying his hair in his bathroom, so that's probably why he hasn't answered his phone. You know it's funny because I was actually just about to go to your house! Come on in!" With that, she allowed the blond into the home and _then_ went on her merry way to the Strife household.

Upon entering the upstairs, Roxas found that the bathroom door was closed, which allowed him to speculate over what exactly was wrong and if he should be apologizing for anything. Mrs. Corazza said that he was too busy dying his hair to answer his phone, but Roxas knew that wasn't the case. The bluenette would've simply let it go to voicemail on its own if he had been too busy. With a deep breath, Roxas opened the door to find Zexion standing in front of the mirror with a bottle of blue dye poised at his head.

"Cheryl, what—Oh it's _you_," Zexion spat as he looked over to the door and spotted the blond. "What do _you_ want?" he asked venomously, placing the bottle of dye on the counter and turning to face him with his entire body. He locked his eyes with Roxas' and truthfully, the intensity in the bluenette's icy blue eyes made Roxas tremble a little bit.

Roxas entered the bathroom completely and closed the door behind him before he replied. "I just… Why are you angry at me?" It was nearly impossible not to meet Zexion's gaze, but he luckily managed to avoid it somehow.

The bluenette snorted. "Wouldn't you rather talk to your 'bestest friend in the whole wide world?'" That connected the dots.

Strangely, when Roxas made the connection, he met the bluenette's eyes and couldn't help but break out laughing at how hilarious it was that Zexion was angry over such a petty matter. It was little chuckles at first that built into a crescendo of guffaws. The blond had to steady himself with the counter so that he didn't collapse onto the floor.

"What?" Zexion demanded, turning a light shade of pink. "What the hell is so goddamn funny?"

When Roxas finally regained a hold of himself, he smiled at Zexion. "Oh, Zexy, I can't believe you're jealous of Hayner! Hayner went back to Destiny Islands yesterday."

Zexion crossed his arms over his chest, effectively getting blue dye on his white shirt, but not seeming to care. There were other blue stains there that looked dry already. "Jealousy is a perfectly normal human emotion. I felt very betrayed, you know. You told me that we were best friends and that we clicked well together. It's horrid to be lied to, I'm sure you of all people know how that feels."

The blond couldn't resist the urge to pinch Zexion's cheeks. "Oh, look how cute you are!" The bluenette swatted his hands away and glared, positively fuming. "Look, Zexion, I didn't lie to you. You can have more than one best friend, you know. You and I click in a way that Hayner and I don't, but the same is true for the other way around. You're both such cool guys and, honestly, I would hate to have to choose between the two of you. It's just Hayner and I have a history together 5 or so years strong. And it was so good to see him again. He was the only person in Destiny Islands who knew I was gay. I missed him a lot and I was so happy to see him again. Hayner and I have the history, the both of us have passionate, somewhat hot-headed personalities, and the same love of Adventure Time. But you and I, we have the powers, more similar personalities, and the same taste in music. You're so fucking cool, Zexion! How could you doubt how much I like you?"

Within a second, the blunette's arms fell limply at his sides. His head was bowed slightly in a shy manner. "You think I'm," he paused to look down at his feet for a second, "cool?" He was now staring at up Roxas through his thick, black eyelashes.

"Of course! I think you're so awesome and cute and smart and absolutely adorable and…—"

"Okay, okay, I get it! You can stop," he interrupted. He turned around to hide the fact that his face was bright pink. He turned around once his face was its relatively usual color again. "Anyway, so long as you're here, you might as well help me out. I always have such trouble with the back." He opened the cabinet below the sink. "Here, some gloves."

Roxas took them and slipped them over his digits. "I didn't know you dyed your hair, Zexion," he said as he followed Zexion's instructions.

"No, my hair is naturally blue." The bluenette grinned at the blond, prompting Roxas to stick his tongue out at him.

* * *

><p>"Where've <em>you<em> been?" Sora asked the moment Roxas stepped into the living room after having spent a good couple of hours at the bluenette's house after their "fight" had blown over. Though the question was in an accusatory tone, the look on the brunet's face was playful. "Another not-date, perhaps?"

"Yeah another not-date. Or I was at Zexion's house. One or the other," Roxas replied sarcastically as he flopped down onto their couch next to his twin. There was a small silence where Sora nodded his head and turned his head back to the TV. A wicked grin made its way onto Roxas' face and his eyes narrowed at his brother. Without warning, he pounced on his twin and tackled him against the couch, causing him to yelp.

Sora was quick to fight back and push Roxas away from him so that he could attempt to tackle him. Unfortunately for Sora, Roxas recovered before he could tackle him completely, thus they ended up in a locked match trying to shove the other over. They wrestled on the couch for a few more minutes before Tifa walked in and demanded that they break apart, though she was smiling warmly despite her firm tone.

"Oh yeah, Mom, Mrs. Corazza came over here, right? Why did she come over?" Roxas wondered once he'd caught his breath and they'd all begun watching TV.

Without looking over, Tifa responded, "She invited us to have Thanksgiving with her family as well as Zexion's family on his actual mother's side. Apparently, they usually have Thanksgiving every year and it's a big event because all Zexion's friends and their families are invited too."

This interested the blond. "So are we gonna do it?"

Without letting Tifa to respond, Sora began to speak. "Oh, yeah, Riku was telling me that it'll be at his house! He told be all about how everyone kind of hangs out there for, like, the whole day," he explained. "Please, Mom, can we celebrate with them? It'll be lots and lots of fun!"

Whatever their mother had been planning to say, it seemed that she reconsidered the possibility a little bit. 'It sounds kind of against the principles of Thanksgiving… It's supposed to be a family holiday, after all.' She put that smile of hers back on. "I'll have to ask your father." She looked at her watch for a second. "I think I should start on dinner about now." With that, she excused herself back to the kitchen.

Sora didn't seem to notice anything strange about the situation, content to simply return to watching TV. Roxas was too confused to leave it untouched. "I thought Riku broke your heart? You didn't even want to ride with him in the car when Hayner came over."

"Welp," Sora's eyes rolled up to look at the ceiling as he pieced together his sentence, "I did some long, hard thinking, and yes, that is what she said." He grinned childishly at his twin. "Anyway, I thought it over and I decided that I love Riku too much to let one little," he struggled to find the right words in his sudden irritation, "one little bitch ruin my chance with him. Plus, you were totally right! They totally don't even go together. They'll break up in no time at all, and then I'll have my chance!"

"So you already forgave him for making you bawl like a baby?"

The brunet glowered at this. "No. There was nothing really to forgive him for. It's not like he purposely meant to hurt me. He doesn't even know how much I like him! I was just overreacting and I didn't really think the situation through. For some reason, I had it stuck in my head that they'd go out forever and get married and yeah. I think I was most upset that I might not be the one standing on the altar with Riku in a gorgeous white gown…" Sora sighed dreamily.

"A gown? You don't want to wear a tuxedo?" Roxas wondered. "I mean, if I ever get married, I'd want to wear a tux. Personally, I think tuxes are pretty damn hot."

'I like wearing dresses, Roxas.' Sora looked mildly worried and looked over at the small hallway leading to the kitchen. He glanced back at his twin for a moment, biting his lip, before rising to his feet and proceeded to climb the stairs to the second floor, beckoning for Roxas to follow.

Of course, Roxas followed his beloved twin, curious as to what exactly had befallen the brunet. Could Sora be transsexual? It wouldn't be entirely surprising since the brunet wasn't exactly manly in the traditional sense of the word. Or any sense of the word, really. Sora was downright emasculate, though that wasn't necessarily indicative of him being transsexual.

Roxas closed and locked the door behind them once they reached their room and whirled around to face Sora.

"Roxas, look at me and tell me, what do you see?" Sora wondered, holding a cautious, but steady gaze with his twin.

The blond didn't know exactly how to respond to that. What exactly did his twin want to hear? "Um, I see my twin brother? Whom I love very much? Oh god, Sora, don't tell me you're trans! That shit makes life hard, bro!"

Sora grinned at this and proceeded to turn to face the mirror hanging on their closet door. He did a small turn so that he could admire both sides of himself. "Not transgender, but maybe another kind of trans." He pulled away from the mirror for a second and pulled Roxas over to it so that they could look together. "When I look in the mirror, I see thick eyelashes and big, sapphire, ocean eyes. You know, like Owl City! Anyway, lately I've been looking at the mirror more and realizing exactly what I look like, trying to connect the person I am in my mind and my body to the way I appear. You know, like, my feelings to my persona. Like self-realization and stuff like that!"

"Oh shit, Sora, are you going all hippie-dippy on me? What exactly is going on?" The blond wasn't quite sure what was happening to his brother, but he had the feeling that it was a good thing. The brunet certainly seemed to have a lot on his plate, or at least going on in his head.

Not taking his eyes off his reflection, Sora smiled, but didn't respond to Roxas' questions. "I've been thinking about who I am a lot, you know? Like, who is Sora Strife? And how does he live his life? How does he feel and who does he choose to spend his time with? How does he spend his time?" He finally pulled himself away from the mirror and turned to Roxas. Probably subconsciously, he grabbed his twin's hand and intertwined their fingers. "And not just the now, but the future too, you know? Like, what are my goals? How am I gonna get there? Not even colleges. Just, like, in life. Who is the person that I want to be? And how to I get there from who I am right now?"

Roxas pulled his and Sora's hands to his face and kissed the back of his brother's hand. "Wow. I never really thought you'd be so... curious, I guess. You always seemed so conscious of who you were. Why the sudden curiosity?"

"I don't know," Sora sighed and shrugged. "I think maybe it has to do with me being in love with Riku. And I don't use that term lightly, Roxas. I've never really felt or thought that I was in love before and I typically don't have crushes. After I realized how much I care for Riku and especially after he started going out with this other girl, I realized that I have to find out exactly who I am first and figure out how I fit together with Riku. We're going a little bit off topic here, but basically, my newfound feelings just sparked me to do some serious thinking. Do you ever look at people and just wish you were more like them? Like, physically? Or you have these little catty thoughts that are horrible, but they don't go away just because you want them to?"

"Um, I think everyone has those," Roxas replied.

"Yeah, well usually, I don't pay attention to them. I mean, I don't particularly lack self-esteem. In fact, I'd say I'm fairly confident. But I recently hung out with the girl Riku's dating now, but it was before even the first date. And I hung out with her and a group of other people, mostly girls, and I listened to their conversations since I wasn't really feeling talkative that day and I just realized how petty the things the girls were talking about were. They talked about how they wanted this and that like this girl and that girl or how they wished they were taller or skinnier or tanner or paler. As part of my new self-interest, I wondered exactly what I wanted. So I listened to those thoughts that I usually ignore."

"Sora, you're way too long winded; just cut to the chase already!"

"Well, going back to what I see in the mirror and how I see myself in my head. I realized, while walking around in public and looking at clothing stores and other people and whatever else, that in my head, I see myself as a girl. A pretty girl. And I've always seen myself as a girl, or at least in girly clothing, but I never really realized it before because it was just so normal to me."

"But you said…—"

"Shush, Roxy!" Sora demanded with his signature pouty face. "I don't feel like I was born physically into the wrong body. I like having a penis and all that jazz. But I… Well, I guess you could just sum it up by saying that I'm a sweet transvestite?"

"Are you from transsexual Transylvania?" Roxas wondered, unable to keep from giggling.

"Hmm, not quite. I just want to be pretty! You understand, right? You don't hate me just because I might occasionally put on that dress you wore for Halloween when you're not around? It's such a pretty dress!"

Roxas laughed some more. "Whatever makes you happy, bro. Just be careful. Who knows what Mom or Dad would do if they walked in here to find you wearing a miniskirt and high heels. And you can have the dress if you want it." The blond went over to lie on his bed with his arms folded behind his head.

Sora giggled. "Thanks, Rox, I knew you'd understand. I kind of want to get a wig, you know? See if I can make my vision of myself match the reality."

"If you got your hair to stay down, it's probably long enough to go to your shoulders. You might be able to pass as a girl without a wig if you got it to stay down. Just saying."

* * *

><p>Later that evening, Sora begged and pleaded that they go have Thanksgiving at Riku's house with everyone. Cloud didn't understand why they were celebrating at Riku's house, yet they were invited by Mrs. Corazza. The brunet explained that Riku and Zexion were cousins on the bluenette's mother's side, which Roxas hadn't known before. It did make sense, thinking about it.<p>

"So will it be mostly kids there, then?" Cloud asked.

"No, well, it could be. Since Zexion's friends' families are all pretty close, even to Riku's family, they'll all be there," Sora replied.

Why was it that his twin knew more about this than Roxas? Why didn't his friends bring it up at all? "Wait, so, all my friends will be there? Like, Demyx and Axel and all of them?"

"Unfortunately," the brunet snorted. "But all their families will be there, too. Oh, oh, oh, but aside from just them, Riku apparently has three older brothers who'll be there because they're visiting from college or something and I'm, like, super excited to meet them! I'm excited like it's nobody's business!" 'Riku said they all look alike, so I'm sure I'll die in beautiful-men-heaven.' "So, please, Dad, can we go? Please, please, please?" Sora begged hands clasped together in his pleading.

Cloud tolled his eyes, but smiled. 'Anything to make my boys happy.' "I guess we might as well take advantage of their hospitality. Did you get invited too, Sora?"

From there, the conversation continued, but Roxas was spacing out, imagining what it would be like for his parents to meet all of his friends. Though, by this point, they'd seen everyone at least once except for Naminé and Larxene. On the flip side, he was interested in meeting his friends' parents as well, except for Reno. He wasn't looking forward to seeing Reno.

* * *

><p>The next day, Naminé texted Roxas asking if he wanted to hang out with her, Marluxia, and Larxene since Demyx was with Zexion and Axel was busy that day. The blond accepted the request and found himself curious as to what they would do. They seemed kind of like an exclusive trio. As he'd spent his time in their group of friends, he noticed a subtle, barely-there divide that existed within the group. Axel, Demyx, Zexion, and himself were a somewhat separate group from Larxene, Marluxia, and Naminé, even though they all hung out together. Roxas figured this divide came from the fact that Demyx and Axel had been best friends for a long time and since Demyx was dating Zexion, it was only natural that they hang out together. Roxas had only recently come along, and now was secretly dating Axel, so it made sense that they hung out, too. So really, there had been three groups originally when Roxas had come, since he and Zexion made up their own duo.<p>

This divide made Roxas curious as to how the three 'girls' of the group interacted amongst each other. Not necessarily as literal as what language they spoke or whether they even spoke aloud, but more like what kinds of things they talked about and how they treated each other. Naminé didn't really seem as though she would be as close friends with Marluxia and Larxene as she actually was. Marluxia and Larxene seemed older and intimidating while Naminé looked naïve and fragile. Differences had always perked Roxas' interest, so he was anxious to see how it all worked.

Conveniently, they were to hang out at Marluxia's house. It was convenient in that Roxas could observe them in their 'natural habitat' where other people wouldn't interfere. When Marluxia arrived at the Strife household to pick up the blond, Roxas was expecting their next destination (Marluxia's house) to be pink with white trimming and a little bow on the mailbox's flag. One can imagine the blond's surprise when the house was actually light brown with the mailbox halfway torn off the wooden post it was on along with the other mailboxes.

The house looked older, the garage so aged that the corner lifted up due to years of exposure to the elements. It was a small house, one story, maybe smaller than Roxas'. That surprised him somewhat, but then he remembered that Marluxia was an only child and that they really only needed two bedrooms.

Larxene was coming out of a neighboring house when Marluxia parked his Corolla in the driveway. "Hey guuuurl," she drawled at Marluxia once the pinkette was out of the car and the trio met up in the driveway.

"Hey boooooooi," Marluxia responded with a grin, pulling the blonde into a hug. "Roxas decided to join us today. Isn't that simply wonderful?" He gestured vaguely to Roxas and smiled.

Immediately, Larxene grinned. "Of course! We're always looking for new cult members," she said with a slight cackle. She ran a finger down the underside of Roxas' chin and smiled a wicked smile that Roxas could see was simply natural for her. "You'll do perfectly."

"Um, thank you? It's an honor," the blond responded, a bit uncomfortable at being touched by Larxene. He could feel her nails on his skin, and he didn't like it.

Larxene broke the act she'd put on and began to giggle, a giggle Roxas found that he liked. She grabbed him into a tight hug and buried his face into her neck. "Oh, and he's so cute! Marly, you always bring in the cutest strays!" She began to tickle Roxas a little too roughly what with her nails.

The sound of a horn broke them out of their goofing around. They whipped their heads in the direction of the noise and found that Naminé was just being dropped off by Demyx. The dirty blond waved wildly from the driver's seat of his car while Zexion gave a much more subdued, single wave from the passenger's seat.

Marluxia, Roxas, and Larxene all waved back before retreating into the pinkette's house with their new addition, Naminé. It didn't surprise the blond that the inside of the house was very nice-looking and clean. Roxas had a feeling that even if Marluxia's family was naturally disorderly, the pinkette would clean it all himself. He seemed like the kind of person to really take pride in his living space.

Upon entering the house, the group first went to the kitchen which was on the direct right immediately after entering. There, Roxas couldn't help but notice how all the jars, pots, and even the window's curtains were all a matched set of floral patterns. He could've laughed aloud, but then he realized that there was a middle-aged woman with platinum blond hair sitting at the small dining table that was in the conjoined dining room.

The woman, presumably Marluxia's mother, stood when she saw everyone had entered the kitchen. She stood at about Roxas' height, which surprised him somewhat because Marluxia was so tall. She was on the plump side, but despite the differences in physique from this woman, she looked exactly like Marluxia's mother should. If that even made any sense at all.

She immediately pulled Larxene into a hug and then Naminé. "Oh, it's so good to see you girls," she welcomed them in a tired voice that was raspy to a degree. The girls returned their greetings as she set her eyes on Roxas. "Who's this? Hopefully he's not another one of your goddamn flings, Marluxia," she said, surprising Roxas with the way her thoughts matched her words. He could appreciate her honesty.

Marluxia smirked and put an arm around the blond, pulling him close. "Of course he is, Mother! He's exactly my type, don't you think?"

The woman was not amused and smacked her boy over the head without hesitation. "Sarcasm is not welcome in my presence, child. You know that. Anyway, what's your name, hun?" she asked Roxas with a kind smile on her pink lips.

"I'm Roxas. I just moved here a few months ago," he replied through his chuckles. Despite the physical abuse, he could tell that Marluxia and his mother had a good relationship. What with Demyx and Naminé's lack of parental care, Zexion's general dislike of his parents, and Axel's childish, annoying father, it was a nice change.

Her eyes seemed to light up upon hearing the words escape his mouth. She threw her arms tightly around him and cradled him against her breasts, effectively making him blush heavily. "Oh, you're so cute! Even your voice is adorable! And what's this? You're blushing! Aww! Marly-bear, did you bring him home so that we can keep him? I'd love to have this adorable boy for a pillow!"

Naminé and Larxene simply giggled at his torture. Luckily Marluxia seemed to notice something wrong with the situation. "Mother, you're smothering him!" he exclaimed as he attempted to break his mother away from the blond.

"Oh yes, my apologies." She released Roxas and set about straightening out his clothes. "As you might have guessed, I'm Marluxia's mother. You can call me Ms. K." She held out her arm with her hand hanging limply, so Roxas took that as a sign not to shake, but to kiss her hand.

With a smile, he put one hand behind his back and gently grabbed her hand before bowing himself all the way down to kiss it without making her raise her arm any. "It's very nice to meet you, Ms. K." He released her hand gently.

Ms. K's face dusted over a light shade of pink and she did a very Marluxia-like pose, crossing one arm over her torso and resting the other on top of it perpendicularly so that she could cover her smile. "Marluxia, you should be more like Roxas here. Now, go, you have guests to entertain. Shoo, shoo, young children. Leave an old woman to her reading." With that, she waved them off.

"You're a lot like your mom, Marluxia," Roxas observed out loud once they entered the pinkette's room, which was, unsurprisingly, pink.

The walls bathed in pink and beauty posters as well as note cards and lined paper hung in neat rows and lines on the walls. Everything in the room had its place and it was quite a pretty room. The bed was queen-sized and had a canopy with lacy white tulle flowing down from it and there was a vanity pressed against a thin wall next to a closet. The vanity was covered in meticulously organized makeup and several types of hairbrushes.

Next to the vanity on the floor was the shoulder bag the pinkette used as a backpack. In almost stark contrast to the frilly, pink things neatly placed about the room, there was a neatly-stacked pile of weights of various size and shape next to a bench press machine pushed into a corner. The heaviest weight looked to be 100lbs.

"I know, isn't she just lovely?" Marluxia sighed happily. They were sitting in a circle on his floor

"Yeah, when she's not bringing home sleaze-balls like your father," Larxene scoffed with a smirk.

"Like father like son," Naminé pitched in.

Roxas felt a little out of place just because he didn't know Marluxia or his family history all that well. He didn't mention it aloud, though, opting to just listen in.

Marluxia and Larxene laughed at the blonde's statement. "You're not completely wrong, but I've… moved on from that phase in my life. Ever since seeing a glimmer of hope in my relationship with Vexen, I've decided to completely stop having random flings."

"What kinds of guys did you usually go for?" Roxas wondered, not wanting to be completely left out of the conversation.

Larxene and Naminé snickered as they exchanged glances, making Marluxia huff indignantly. "Marly was really into tall, manly men. If they couldn't bench press more than him, he wouldn't even consider going out with them, isn't that right, Marly? And it was even better if they wore glasses."

"Look, the glasses thing is from Vexen! And I don't think it's unreasonable to want a fit partner. If they plan on topping me, then they must be manlier than I. Plus, I can only bench press about 200lbs."

To Roxas, 200lbs sounded like a lot, but then again, he'd never even attempted to bench press anything. Based on Marluxia's toned-looking body, it must've been enough to keep him in good shape.

"So, since the entire private conversation amongst you two about Halloween, have there been anymore glimmers of hope?" Naminé asked. "Or was that a one-time thing?"

Marluxia blushed at this and sighed dreamily. "He may have asked me to help him grade some assignments with him yesterday… at his house. Let me tell you, being invited there is hell of a lot better than breaking in of my own volition. He actually wanted me to be there!" He paused for a moment to place a finger thoughtfully to his lips. "Though, honestly, I'm not really supposed to talk about it."

A couple hours went by like that, discussing girly things. Roxas didn't particularly mind it. In fact, he found it interesting how they were so girly, even though none of them really came off as being that way. The three "girls" teased Roxas, asking about his own love life and he disappointed them by saying he didn't have one. He had a feeling that Naminé really knew what was up, for she gave a knowing smile, making the blond realized that he'd been picturing himself kissing Axel as he answered. He really should've been more careful around her now.

They ended up painting their nails. Roxas gave input and commented as they set about their work. Of course, there was also a fair amount of physical abuse that included Marluxia holding Roxas down while Larxene and Naminé attempted to paint his nails. They succeeded in the end and if that wasn't bad enough, there was a plethora of photographic evidence of the deed that the girls promised would go on Facebook.

After the whole nail-painting fiasco, they decided to drag the blond along with them to walk around Marluxia and Larxene's neighborhood. They ended up in a park in the neighborhood, prompting a few rounds of Lava Monster in which the floor was lava and the lava monster had to try to tag the other participants. Then afterwards, there was an impromptu photo shoot in which Larxene, who had brought her giant, pro-status Canon camera, ordered Marluxia, Naminé and Roxas around in the grass and against trees and on rocks.

Something Roxas hadn't known about Larxene was that she was aspiring to be a fashion photographer and often used the Marluxia and Naminé as models. She sometimes used the other members of the group, but it was mostly the blonde and the pinkette because the others could only take so much of her hostile direction.

The entire day, all in all, was pretty fun and Roxas was surprised. He hadn't expected hanging out with them to be so entertaining. Ms. K kissed Roxas on the cheek when he and Naminé bade their farewells to her just before Marluxia was going to drive them home. The blond nearly fell asleep on the way home, but tried his best to remain conscious. He could only imagine what Marluxia and Naminé would do if he fell asleep.

The day ended on an even better note when they pulled up in front of the Strife household and saw that Demyx's car was there in the space between the Corazza and Strife houses. That in itself wasn't surprising, but what made it better was the fact that the car was rocking back and forth. Deciding to investigate, the trio left Marluxia's Toyota and proceeded to examine the car, quickly discovering that Demyx and Zexion were fooling around in the backseat. Grinning at each other, they decided to scare the crap out of them by knocking on the window.

Poor Demyx and Zexion immediately ceased their actions and proceeded to quickly straighten themselves up and re-zip any pants that may have come undone during the course of their fooling. Demyx was the first out of the car, beet red. "Hey! How are you guys? I was just showing Zexion around my car… Yeah," he mumbled as he fidgeted.

"But, big brother, you were eating Zexion's neck… Are you a vampire?" Naminé asked all innocent-like. The perks of having a brother with a sister complex.

Demyx's eyes widened and he shook his head vigorously. "No, no, no! I wasn't doing that at all! Ha ha," he laughed nervously as Zexion finally joined the group outside of the car. "Nam, you better do as I say and not as I do, okay! So don't let guys bite your necks and don't bite other guys' necks! I have more experience than you, so I know!"

'_Psh, yeah right, Demyx. You have no idea how many guys I've slept with…'_

It was then that Roxas realized how lonely Naminé was, despite the fact that she had two overly-protective older brothers and an awesome group of friends. Where could something like this come from? Even though Roxas had been in the group for a few months, it was clear that there was still much he didn't know about its members.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **SO yeah. Sora's a crossdresser (sort of). It was an idea that's been floating around in my head and I decided to use it. I think he may become androgynous, so that's a thing. I don't think it's a big thing, but it's a thing. Writing this chapter and looking over my outline for this story, I've realized that this is going to be a LOOOOONG story. Like. Wow. A full-length novel, probably. Currently on my computer in the master file without the author's notes it's already 150 pages long in Microsoft Word at size 12pt font Times New Roman, soooo, wow.

I not like this chapter. I meant to characterize Larxene and Naminé more, but I decided I don't care much for Larxene and really, she has little to do with the story. Naminé on the other hand, I have big things planned for her, so maybe this gave a better feel for her? Idk man, idk. I hate this chapter. Call it a filler and boom. Done.

If you loved it or hated it (and share my sentiments), then please leave a review because you can make me super duper happy which will then inspire me to write MORE AND MORE AND AAHH TOO MUCH. But yeah. Srsly, bro. You should review. Like. Srsly.

So yeah, love me, love my story, hate this chapter and I'll catch you on the flip side. I hear the grass is greener and the pillow is cooler on the other side, so lets take a nap in the grass with pillows and I'm sorry, I'm just in a weird, weird mood.


	21. Turkey and Harrassment

**A/N: **Hey howdy hey there! Um. It's been almost 2 months since I've updated. How? It doesn't even feel like two months Dx Why so late? Multiple reasons. 1) I refused to upload until I covered ALL of Thanksgiving in one chapter. 2) Real life problems w/friends and such. 3) Disheartened with my writing b/c of a review I received that I'm not sure is a troll (I could go on forever about why I think it was a troll) and also because Annie Christ updated Fire Crotch a few times and /inferiority complex. 4) I wasn't happy or in a good mood a lot of the time, so I didn't feel like I could write anything funny. 5) Laziness. 6) That thing where you think about something (this story in my case) so much that you lose motivation to actually write it because you know the story so well already.

Anyway, I'm not trying to make excuses, that is just a conglomeration of reasons why this is so late coming. Going forward Idk how long it will take me to finish future chapters. I'll certainly try to be more punctual, but I have AP tests and state testing and SATs coming up. So we'll see, I suppose. I've devised a way to keep my mind off of this story so much so that I actually feel motivated to write it, but I will speak more about it at the end.

Apologies again. Kisses~

Kingdom Hearts © Disney and Enix

* * *

><p>Marluxia and Naminé eventually drove off and Demyx and Zexion proceeded to entering the bluenette's house to probably continue making out. Upon entering his own house after everyone had left, Roxas found Riku and Sora splayed out on the couch watching TV and not moving at all. "Hey Sora, hey Riku," he greeted.<p>

They returned the greeting halfheartedly, sounding like they were in pain. "Roxas while you're up, can you get us something to eat?" Sora wondered, shifting slightly.

"Why can't you get it yourself?" the blond snorted.

"We just got back from practice and it was absolute _hell_... We're in so much pain right now..."

"Oh I forgot that you guys still have practice like every other day. Did you have lots of fun?" Roxas flopped down on the couch on top of his twin's legs, making him whimper in pain.

"Coach was super pissed today 'cause Demyx didn't go to practice today, and since our season's over already, we're just doing fitness training until polo starts up next semester. So, since he was so pissed, he made us do suicides, stairs, planks, and pushups in that order for like 3 repetitions. It was absolute _torture_." The brunet whined. "And now it hurts all over and we can't move, so please feed us?"

Roxas begrudgingly agreed and made them a small snack. Later that evening Cloud gave Sora an ice bath in which Sora tried to keep himself from crying at the immense cold, making everyone feel bad. This was followed up by an awkward explanation of why Roxas needed to use Tifa's nail polish remover. Luckily, the night wasn't too bad all in all.

* * *

><p>The next day found Roxas with Sora in Cloud's car. Everyone had the day off, so they planned on having a small family Thanksgiving the day before the huge celebration to at least get some family time in. The twins had been sent to the grocery store to pick up some supplies, which was sure to be horrendous because <em>everyone<em> wanted to get their stuff for Thanksgiving the following day. The first sign that of how terrible this trip would prove to be started with the fact that the parking lot was almost completely full and they had to park near the back of the lot.

The inside of the store buzzed with people going here and there grabbing this and that, trying to get what they needed and out the door as soon as possible. Sora and Roxas decided to split up the list so that they could finished faster, so they went off alone to procure this and that. Roxas wasn't much of a shopper, but with a list in hand, he had no problem locating things quickly. He looked at it more as a mission than a shopping trip, so it was easy for him to focus in on his own world and needs.

Being that Roxas was so centered on his mission, it really surprised him when he a hand coming from the other side of a refrigerator lined with milk grabbed him and growled "Roxas!" He nearly dropped the gallon of milk he was retrieving. Luckily, he recovered it within seconds and had it placed gently in his basket of stuff. The blond glared through to the other side of the freezer and spotted a familiar face and shit-eating grin.

"Hey, Roxy, how's it going?" Axel wondered.

"What the fuck?" Roxas could only look at the redhead, dumbfounded. "I didn't know you worked here! Since when, Fire Crotch?" Truth be told, the blond was a bit upset that his secret boyfriend hadn't told him he had a job earlier.

"I've had this job for about a year. Ever since I was eligible for a work permit, at least," Axel responded, licking his lips before letting out a breath that managed to reach Roxas and warm his face.

"How come I didn't know about this earlier?" the blond wondered. "And how the hell were you able to hang out with me all throughout my punishment? You didn't have work, did you?"

The redhead shrugged and smiled genuinely at Roxas (which, to be quite honest, was the blond's weakness). "I don't know, I guess I just didn't think it was that important. Plus, there's so many people working here that it's not like I work a whole bunch of hours. During your punishment, I had other people take over for my shifts. I have a buttload of shifts to make up. Luckily, since your dad has that day off every Wednesday or whatever and since we didn't really hang out on the weekend, I've been able to make up a lot of the shifts."

Roxas' initial anger flowed away and he tilted his head at his boyfriend. "Why would you do that? It can't be fun work… Stocking shelves, talking to people…," Roxas shuddered, "sounds icky."

"It's not fun and it's definitely icky, but you're worth it." There was that smile again.

Roxas felt strange. Cold and frozen on the outside, but warm and melty on the inside. "Remind me to kiss the fuck out of you later. For now, though, I gotta go. Sora's probably waiting for me."

"I look forward to later." Axel grinned. "I gotta get back to work anyway, see ya, Roxy."

"Yeah, see you tomorrow probably." Before Roxas completely walked away, he impulsively turned back to face the redhead. "Oh, you should call me tonight!" He exclaimed without really thinking, making Axel give him a questioning look. The blond blushed lightly and looked down at his feet. "Just, I don't know, I might be lonely? Okay, whatever, Axel, bye." Saving himself any further embarrassment, Roxas went on with his mission with thoughts of a certain redhead plaguing mostly every one.

When Roxas regrouped with Sora, the brunet asked if something had happened, pointing out the blond's apparent unsettledness. He snapped at his twin, making Sora grin and that concluded their trip to the grocery store.

* * *

><p>Being the good boyfriend that he was, Axel called later that evening just as Roxas had requested. The blond had been sitting in the living room with his family watching TV when his cell phone starting to ring (Roxas preferred to have the sound on because he hardly ever felt the device vibrating). Seeing 'Mr. Sexy Pants' light up on the screen brought an instant smile to his face. Quickly, yet as naturally as possible, Roxas proceeded to race up the stairs to his and Sora's room where he locked the door. As he went, he could practically feel Sora's shit-eating gaze at the back of his head. If Sora knew who was calling, Roxas doubted he would be so smug.<p>

"Hello?" Roxas asked into the phone as he tried not to sound so breathless.

"Hey, Roxy," Axel replied. "Were you lonely? Did you feel the need to hear good ol' Axy's voice?"

The blond grinned as he lay down on the floor on his side so that he didn't have to hold the phone up to his ear anymore. In a pitiful, weak voice, the blond replied, "Oh most definitely! I was lost in a sea of darkness just floating around trying to latch onto something, but nothing was there. I began to cry because it was just so cold and it hurt. I thought, 'If only Axel were here to melt all the cold! Man, that guy sure is awesome... and hot.'"

Axel's laugh barked over the phone in away that made Roxas feel like he'd made a really good joke, and it felt good. "Yeah? How did that go? Were you hit by any sudden epiphanies? Make any life-altering revelations?"

"Well," Roxas chirped, "I was crying so hard that I almost broke my lungs and then I was like 'Oh, no I need that to breathe,' so I got really worried and then my phone started to ring and it was a little beacon of hope in that dark loneliness. And now, here I am." The blond paused to chuckle. "And now, I've decided that I wanna be just like you when I grow up. Mhmm."

"Wow, Rox, I'm so flattered!" Axel was too busy busting a gut on the other end to say more until he managed to wheeze out, "You little fucking shit, you're gonna kill me if I laugh any harder!" Suddenly, he calmed down. "Well, if you're going to be like me when you grow up, you gotta drink a shit ton of milk and grow like 5 inches. Then, you gotta grow your hair out and dye it red. And the last one is impossible. You gotta actually become _cool._ I know, it sounds absolutely impossible, and it is."

"Fuck you, asshole!" Roxas exclaimed. "I _hate_ you…" he whined. "Kill yourself immediately."

**[1]**"Mais, je te manquerais! Je sais que tu m'aime. C'est d'accord, parce que je comprends que tu es très méchant et tu ne peux pas accepter combien tu m'aime," Axel responded. "De toute façon, j'ai entendu que tu vas célébrer Thanksgiving avec moi. Est-il vrai? Je peux voir ta belle figure demain? Je suis très excité."

"Oui, c'est vrais. Je serai chez Riku demain. Je suis excité aussi, mais… euh… Je ne veux pas voir ton père. Si je le vois, est-ce je peux l'ignorer ? Vraiment, je ne veux pas parler avec lui," Roxas explained slowly as he thought over how to say everything correctly. He grinned about how easily Axel had slipped into French and how he spoke at a normal pace in it, unlike Roxas. Plus, the redhead's accent was pretty good. Really, Roxas just liked his boyfriend's French. A lot.

"Tu ne dois pas inquiéter. Je l'ignorais depuis ce jour quand tu as venu chez moi. Je suis en colère encore avec lui ! Toujours, je ne peux pas croire comment impoli il a été à toi. Alors, je comprends que tu ne veux pas le voir, mais, il sera là demain. Je suis désolé, mais je ne peux rien faire de ça. Avec un peu de chance, il parlera avec les autres parents. Je veux dire, sérieusement…-"

"Dis, Axel, j'aime ton français. Il est parfait. Je dis ça mais je dis rien," Roxas interrupted. "I think it's cute."

Axel snorted on his end. "No way. It's not cute. It's manly and sexy and sexual and hot and attractive and seductive. It makes you want to fuck me. **[2]** Baise-moi, Roxas! I know you want to."

"Psh, hell yeah I do! Axel, tomorrow please mount me immediately and steal away my virginity. I want you to make me scream like a fucking hyena!" Roxas laughed. "And I owe you some kisses anyway. Too bad no one's allowed to know about us. Can't kiss you tomorrow. Oops."

The reply was a whimper and a loud sob. "But I _want_ it! I want your tongue in my mouth! Please, Rox, please, please, _please_?" Suddenly, Roxas heard the snapping of fingers. "I got it! Tomorrow, after Thanksgiving and everything, we can have a sleepover at my house! Come on, come on, come on! Say yes!"

Roxas smiled warmly at the redhead's insistence and chuckled. "I don't know about that, Axel. I'm not exactly ready to lose my purity to the likes of you. You're just a weenie head."

"Yeah, but you'd _love_ to suck my weenie's head!" The redhead exclaimed. Then, significantly quieter, he scoffed, "Apparently you have no trouble sucking other peoples' heads."

This made Roxas snort, but not playfully this time. He didn't appreciate the way Axel mentioned Roxas' run-ins with oral sex. "Fuck off; you're not even a virgin," he growled. "Why don't you just come fuck me already? Goddamn it, Ax, it's already been like two weeks and you haven't fucking touched me. The _gall_!" The amount of sarcasm and anger in his voice surprised even Roxas. He wasn't quite sure where the rage had come from, but he felt that Axel kind of deserved it for saying something so rude.

There was silence on the other side of the line for a while before Axel sighed. "Fuck, Rox, I'm sorry." The genuinely apologetic voice dissipated all the darkness in the pit of Roxas' stomach. "I don't know why I said that; it's just that I get very… protective and um," Axel's voice dropped down to a whisper, "jealous," his voice returned to normal volume, "whenever I'm in a relationship or I have a crush on someone."

"Somehow, that doesn't surprise me _at all_. You seem like the jealous type of guy."

"Yeah. I hate it. I always get overheated to the point that I'm cold to the core."

"I like hotheads. I am one."

"Me too."

* * *

><p>All day long, Sora couldn't stop skipping around like an idiot with his stupid, goofy grin on his face. He was up at the ungodly hour of 6AM and announced it to Roxas by diving on his twin and bouncing up and down on top of him. The brunet gained hostility from their father as well, having woken him up on his much-appreciated Thanksgiving Day off. In this mood, though, Sora's untouchable positivity remained firmly in tact amongst any and all passive-aggressive negativity.<p>

Of course, this made him an easier target than normal. Being the good brother Roxas was, he took every swing possible in order to exact revenge. For example, as Sora got dressed at the horrid hour of 6AM, Roxas innocently asked, "Hey Sora, did you gain some weight? You look a little pudgy. Maybe you should pay closer attention to what you eat." This resulted in Sora fretting for at least an hour, staring compulsively at himself in a mirror.

"So, Rox, what kind of thing do you think I should wear to this shindig? What would look totally swank on me?" the brunet asked as they hung out together in their room at around noon. Sora hung upside down from his bunk with the newest edition of _Men's Health_ in his hands.

Roxas was reading a collection of stories that had been assigned as homework over the break for English. "I don't know. Jeans and a T-shirt? That's what I'm gonna wear. Axel told me that it usually isn't very formal."

"_Wrong_!" Sora exclaimed. "I should wear a cute, little, strapless dress with leggings and a mini jacket—you know those cute ones?—with a nice pair of flats. Maybe with a giant bow in my hair… Yeah, that would be cute!"

"Oh yeah? Where are you going to get those clothes? And what about Mom and Dad? And _Riku_?" the blond twin grinned.

For that, Sora threw his magazine at Roxas. "I hate you Roxas! Jeez, let a guy dream a little bit! And if Riku is the perfect gentleman that I _know_ he is, then the fact that I like wearing panties won't matter to him. In fact, he would see me for the beautiful pansy that I so totally am. And by pansy, I mean the flower!" The brunet climbed down from his bunk to join Roxas on his. He tore the literature book out of his twin's hand and threw it on the floor. "Now, hold me," he instructed as he climbed into his lap.

"Yes ma'am." Roxas grinned as he wrapped his arms around Sora. Just as he pressed his lips to his twin's forehead, Cloud entered the room suddenly.

"Um…" he trailed off at seeing the strange scene. '_My god, what have Tifa and I created?_' "We're gonna leave at three, so be ready by then."

"Okay, Daddy, you can leave now. Roxy and I wanna continue with our alone time. I'm sure you understand," Sora replied with a smirk. That received a strange look in response but a quick exit.

Sora started dressing up when it was about two o'clock to ensure that he looked his best. Being that he didn't own any of the things he _wanted_ to wear, he simply wore a V-neck with a cardigan and dark jeans. It was hard to miss the displeasure in the brunet's eyes when he twirled for the mirror. "You know, even if I wore some flats with this, it would be ten times cuter."

"You could get a pair of TOMS or something. They look like flats and lots of guys wear them," Roxas suggested offhandedly his textbook absorbed him once again. Absorbed as he was, it surprised him when Sora tackled him with kisses and hugs.

"I _love_ you Roxas! You are a _geeeniiiiuuuuus_~! My gosh, why wasn't I born as smart as you? I don't even need flats, I could wear those boots that women wear that look manly; you know the kind, right? Those are hot. And they would look so cute on me! And wow, Roxas, you've opened a door of possibilities for me!" Sora was tucked tightly against his brother's torso and his arms were tightly wrapped around him. "See, this is why you are my twin and this is why I love you!"

The blond's cheeks hurt from the massive amount of smiling he'd participated in. He was far too humbled by Sora's praise to respond. The only compliments Roxas had grown used to compliments were about how cute he was, and he didn't think those even counted as compliments in his book. He didn't really like being called cute.

A silence settled over the twins, the brunet once again in Roxas' arms. Sora was tucked under his brother's chin as the blond read around him, arms around the boy to hold the book. Slowly, as if mesmerized, Sora ran his finger along his twin's clavicle, back and forth, repetitively. The silence over them was comfortable, calm, and loving, which characterized their feelings towards each other. It honestly surprised Roxas how much the calm overwhelmed him whenever he held his twin.

"Roxas," Sora practically whispered to his brother.

"Hmm?" the blond wondered.

"I don't think I could've asked for a better brother. Honestly, I really love you. You've supported me so much our whole lives, and I don't think I could ever express how much exactly that means to me."

A lump formed in Roxas' throat. Immediately, he swallowed it back down and smiled. Sora's naïve honesty made his words so sincere that it touched his heart. "Well, I love you, too. And I honestly don't think that anything you tell me could make me not support you. We get at each other's throats sometimes, but I'm glad we always work it out."

More silence for a while. "So does this mean you're gonna start wearing make up and stuff?" Roxas wondered, effectively breaking the silence.

"Maybe. I don't know. Right now, make up doesn't really appeal to me, but if I started dressing like a girl, then maybe it would."

"So when are you going to start dressing like a girl at all?"

"I really _want_ girls' clothes, but I have no idea how to get them. Plus, right now we don't really have the money to afford clothes," Sora sadly explained. "I wish we did. Then at least I could at least say that I was buying the clothes for a friends' birthday present or something."

"What about thrift stores? If you could scrape together a little money, maybe you could find something cute there. I heard that they're a good place to buy things. I know that Olette always used to buy her clothes from thrift stores. I always thought they looked pretty good."

"Hm. Maybe I'll do that if I can get some money."

The rest of their time together was spent in silence. Roxas was able to finish his reading assignment while Sora was able to finish looking at all the beautiful men in Men's Health. Not long after their discussion died down, Cloud called them down, saying that it was time to go.

Sora's excitement quickly returned and he raced downstairs. He couldn't stop bouncing up and down in his seat on the way to Riku's house.

Roxas, on the other hand, celebrated his excitement quietly. He knew that Sora's excitement came from being pumped to meet Riku's brothers and to hang out with the silverette. The blond was definitely excited to hang out with his own friends, but he meeting Riku's brothers didn't particularly interest him. Meeting people didn't appeal to him. They'd probably be more interested in Sora anyway.

Along the way, Sora had to give some direction to get to Riku's house because Mrs. Corazza's directions hadn't been very good. When they finally pulled in front of the Gallagher residence, it was only mildly surprising to Roxas that the silverette's house was big and nice, not quite as big as the Almasy residence, but it was definitely nice. Something about Riku, maybe his conservative, reserved nature, made Roxas think originally that he came from a wealthy family.

The very long driveway led a good way's away from the main road. At the end of the driveway, multiple cars sat there and Roxas spotted Seifer's Chevy Avalanche and Marluxia's pink Toyota Corolla among them. Zexion's father's car was also there. It appeared that they'd be the last to arrive. Arriving last to anything always made Roxas a bit uneasy, but by Mrs. Corazza's instructions, they were exactly on time.

Sora was the first one out of the car and quickly bounced up the walkway to the front door. The rest of the Strife family followed more slowly and subdued than the brunet. Despite his exuberance, Sora still waited patiently for everyone else to reach the front door. Together they waited on the front step as a family after Sora had rung the door bell.

A responding series of rhythmic knocks from the other side of the door thoroughly perplexed Cloud, Roxas, and Tifa. Sora looked as of he'd expected this, however, and knocked back at the door with a corresponding rhythm.

The door opened after that, revealing a grinning Riku. "Happy Thanksgiving, Sora, Roxas, Mr. and Mrs. Strife. Everyone's already here, so please come in." As always, he sounded like a perfect gentleman. It almost made Roxas laugh how different Axel and Riku were. His and Sora's tastes in men were very different, though he could see why Sora liked him. Riku was the prince to Sora's princess.

The Strife family proceeded to enter the house and take in the glory that was Riku's foyer. Family portraits hung on the walls of Riku, four other silver-haired men (probably his brothers and father) all in black tuxedos with white shirts and black ties. Two women in black dresses stood next to them. One, to Roxas' shock and horror, was Fuu. Was Fuu Riku's sister? Ever since the first time he met Fuu, when she beat the crap out of him, he had been terrified of her.

Fuu aside, these pictures were very high quality. If Roxas hadn't known better, he would've thought that they were advertisements for funeral clothing. An individual portrait shot of everyone in the family covered the walls that led down a grand hall directly in front of the foyer.

As they walked down that hall, Roxas couldn't help but stare at the pictures of Riku and his brothers. They were all very attractive. Like, ridiculously attractive. If Roxas wasn't already happily in a relationship with Axel, he may have seriously considered flirting heavily with all of them.

The hallway eventually led to a very nice kitchen connected to a living room. It looked like everyone was in this part of the house. The adults mostly grouped in the kitchen while the offspring hung out on the couches. There were eight adults in total and probably thirteen offspring.

Immediately upon entering, the adults greeted the Strifes brazenly even though only two of them actually knew the Strifes; the Corazzas. The Strifes were surrounded by adults in no time, introducing themselves and welcoming them to their annual Thanksgiving celebration. The children watched idly, probably waiting until the twins joined them on the couches.

"Cloud Strife!" a soft voice called out among the others. Riku's mother (Roxas recognized her from the pictures in the hall) separated herself from the mass of adults in the kitchen, probably so that she could establish eye contact with him. She was a petite woman with long brown hair that was fashioned into a long, thick braid at the back with two swirling locks of hair on either side of her head just below her brown bangs.

She went to meet the Strifes, her arm outstretched towards Cloud with a bright, nostalgic-looking smile on her face.

"…Aerith?" Cloud responded as he took her hand and shook it.

Everyone present was surprised at the fact that they appeared to know each other. Riku's mother, Aerith, smiled at them. "We used to date in high school," she explained simply. Then she turned back to the blond man. "My goodness, Cloud, it's been how many years since we last saw each other? Around 30? How funny that we're seeing each other again! Riku and Mrs. Corazza had told me that the Strifes would be joining us for Thanksgiving, but never in a million years would I have thought that it was _your_ family!"

Cloud sheepishly chuckled in response. "Yeah, small world."

Other conversations resumed as they had been before the Strifes arrived, with the exception of the fact that Mrs. Corazza and Ms. K (Marluxia's mother in case you forgot) threw their arms around Roxas to welcome him. As Roxas had the lights squeezed out of him, he listened in on his father and Mrs. Gallagher's conversation.

"Do you and Squall still keep in touch? I remember the two of you were always best friends. You guys did practically everything together!" Mrs. Gallagher recalled with a chuckle.

A disturbed look overcame Cloud's features. "Um, no, we aren't in contact anymore. We stopped being best friends quite a while ago," he replied. He glanced at Tifa for a moment, but she didn't seem to notice. She was glancing Mrs. Gallagher with bright, curious eyes, which surprised Roxas.

"What?" Mrs. Gallagher sounded appalled. "And why not? You were practically brothers!"

"We got into a… fight. I don't really want to talk about it." It was then that the blond established concerned eye contact with Tifa. She smiled and squeezed his hand as if to reassure him. Even with his ability, Roxas was very unsure of what had just happened.

At that point, the offspring came over to join their parents and the Strifes in the kitchen. Arms were around and smothering Roxas again the moment Mrs. Corazza and Ms. K finally released. These arms were smaller, however, and belonged to Naminé, who nuzzled her head against Roxas' cheek. "Hey, Nam," he greeted sheepishly.

"Hi, Roxy," she responded cutely, releasing him and joining her arms behind her back.

"Oh, look how cute you two are together!" Mrs. Corazza and Ms. K cooed. They forced the two blonds together to hug again. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say that you two were twins!"

"Since we do know better, you just make one cute couple, though. Which is just as adorable," Ms. K agreed with a smile.

Out of the corner of his eye, Roxas noticed Axel bristle as he watched them silently. The redhead appeared to be locked in a conversation with Demyx, but it didn't look like he was listening to the sandy blond in the slightest. A beautiful feeling entered Roxas' stomach and he grinned. He kept his arm around Naminé's waist even though their embrace had ended. He liked the feeling of making Axel jealous. Though Roxas hadn't seen him mad very often, he had a feeling that Axel would be drop-dead sexy if he was angry (of course, not angry at Roxas).

Mingling commenced and Roxas and Naminé bounced from conversation to conversation with the different parents and even their friends. Everyone chatted together and Roxas liked being part of this select group. Parties and gatherings normally didn't interest him, especially with people he didn't know, but he felt at ease in this crowd, probably because a lot of his friends were here. Regardless, he found himself enjoying it.

Finally after a few minutes of random socializing, the adults and children separated again. The children settled in the middle of the kitchen on two sides of an island bar with the adults on both sides. Immediately, Roxas noticed that Riku and Sora weren't with them anymore and he wondered idly where they could have snuck of to. The blond also noticed Seifer and Fuu were there among the children. In addition to them, there were three handsome silver-haired boys. Roxas assumed they were Riku's older brothers and they were very, very attractive and equally as intimidating.

Roxas had originally hoped that the three gorgeous Gallagher boys wouldn't notice him, but alas, he had no such luck. The blond wasn't particularly good with socializing with people he found to be attractive, the exceptions being his group of friends (though they probably all got along to the fact that they all had special powers). Immediately, the three boys singled him out and stared at him, drinking in his image.

"Oh, and who's this? Riku's obsession's brother?" One of them asked. He had shoulder-length hair and looked the most like Riku, though his features were more catlike. He slithered his way over to the blond and put a hand under his chin so that he could get a proper look at him.

"My word, he's adorable!" Another spoke up. His hair went down past his shoulders. He came to join his brother in examining Roxas and the third brother, though silent, joined the two and together they surrounded him, rendering escape impossible.

Being surrounded by such tall, attractive guys, Roxas felt very intimidated and wanted very badly to crawl under their legs so that he could get away from them and hide in Axel's arms. He always felt safe in the redhead's arms. Sadly, these intense-cat like eyes froze him in place.

"I don't see what the big deal is. He's just a shrimpy little lamer," Roxas heard Seifer scoff somewhere beyond the wall of attractive men.

"Hey, hey, hey, Roxas has a lot of redeeming qualities," Axel's voice argued. "And give the kid some space, jeez! I'm sure he's terrified that three psychotic... psychos are sizing him up." The redhead shooed the silverettes aside and saved Roxas from a fate of having his personal space invaded.

Seifer leaned coolly against the counter with his arms folded over his chest. He had an unreadable expression on his face aside from minor displeasure that seemed to be ever-present on his face. The blond's forehead told another story. '_Goddamn, if these three assholes harass him all night, I won't get my chance_.'

To which Roxas responded with an intensely curious head-tilting. What on earth would Seifer need a chance with him for? What kind of chance in the first place? The blond was fairly certain that Seifer wasn't interested in him romantically or anything; thus, confusion. "Seifer, if you're so disinterested with me, then why does it look like you want to tell me something?" Roxas bluffed. Seifer didn't look like he wanted to say anything to anybody, especially with the way he was crossing his arms over his chest, but Seifer didn't need to know that.

Of course, Roxas' statement made Seifer blanch and his arms tightened on his chest. He turned his face completely away from the blond so that he was staring at a pantry. "I don't know what the fuck you're talking about, dickwad." Fuu grinned at this foul language. She liked controversy, as far as Roxas knew. "And in any case, if I wanted to talk to you about something in private then I wouldn't do it here; I'd do it elsewhere. And remember, you still fucking owe me your life. Or at least your virginity."

The children all broke away from their side conversations as they heard these words tumble from Seifer's mouth. Stupid teenagers, having selective hearing and whatnot. Axel seemed very concerned to hear this.

"Oh, and he's a virgin, too? How delicious," one of Riku's brothers said (the one with shoulder-length hair).

Roxas ignored him, too focused on Seifer. "I thought we agreed to never talk about that," he growled lowly, giving the older blond a warning look. It wasn't like Roxas could really do much to stop Seifer, though, being small and weak.

"Oh, so I shouldn't tell everyone about how you almost…-"

Hastily, Roxas hurried up to Seifer and slapped a hand over his mouth. "Just tell me what the fuck you want," he snarled at the blond.

Seifer smacked the smaller boy's hand away and warned him not to touch him ever again. Then the gathered Roxas by the collar of his shirt and hauled him off to a deserted part of the house, which happened to be a desolate flight of stairs in a living room a few rooms away from the kitchen. The walk was silent all the way there, and only when they arrived did Seifer so much as hint at what he wanted to talk about. It took a bit of prodding on Roxas' part to get him to speak, though.

"So, um, you wanted something, Seifer?" Roxas wondered after they'd been sitting there on the steps in silence for a few minutes. The only response was silence. Seifer was staring at the ground without any words on his forehead. "Oh, come on, don't tell me you're scared to say what you want!"

The older teen scoffed at that. He turned his head to glare at Roxas. "That's just fucking stupid. Of course I'm not scared!" Then he took a moment to stare sheepishly down at his feet, which made him look, dare Roxas say it, cute. He'd never seen Seifer wear such a soft expression on his face. This only lasted a moment, though, for he quickly hardened his features. "So your stupid chickenwuss friend went home?" he asked quietly.

"Huh? Hayner? Yeah, he already left. Why?" Roxas grinned at this. It was simply too perfect. Before allowing Seifer to answer, he guessed the answer himself. "Could it be that you miss him and you really want to talk to him some more? And maybe get to know him? Or his lips?"

Seifer glared at him and promptly pushed Roxas hard enough to make him fall from the third step to the floor. "Don't be fucking stupid. Why the fuck are you so dumb? That's not it at all!"

Roxas laughed at the situation despite the pain in the shoulder he'd landed on. "Oh, so you _don't_ want his number? I was just thinking you might like to talk to him more and maybe explore the world of phone sex with him, but I guess I was wrong."

Seifer's mouth set into a hard line and he glared at Roxas with such festering hatred that it scared him a little. When he spoke, though, his voice wasn't as intimidating as it should've been. "I just thought it would be fun to harass him through the phone and you owe me still, so you better give me his god damn number or else I'll fucking pound you into the ground and tell everyone about how you almost got raped and how this fucking psycho had you backed into an alleyway with your shirt off!"

All the leverage Roxas thought he'd had was suddenly gone. Despite the fact that Seifer had saved him from a horrible situation, that didn't mean he and the blond were friends in any way. "Uh, right," Roxas responded as he fumbled hastily for his phone. He quickly went to his contacts list and selected Hayner from the list before passing the device off to Seifer.

With a pleased, greedy grin, Seifer entered the number into his own phone. He returned Roxas' phone and patted his shoulder quite roughly. "Now was that so hard? We're even now, lamer, but next time it'll cost you extra, got it?"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever you say, Seifer."

"Good boy. Keep acting all obedient-like and I may grow to like you. Anyway, I have places to go, people to torture." With that, Seifer exited the room, already texting Hayner.

After that little event, Roxas returned to his friends and Riku's brothers. When he returned, the three silverettes introduced themselves and the two slimmer ones, Kadaj and Yazoo, kissed his hand cordially. The biggest one, Loz, seemed upset that he hadn't kissed his hand and Roxas thought that was cute. Shortly after, the blond learned that Kadaj, Loz, and Yazoo were triplets and that they all attended the same college. Marluxia had joked about how they were interdependent upon each other so much that they couldn't even cross a street without each other. That made Kadaj angry and Loz looked like he wanted to cry, though he denied it.

The offspring all relocated to the large living room by the stairs where Seifer had gotten Hayner's number from Roxas. There, Roxas told them that he and Sora were fraternal twins. The triplets latched onto that and made it their excuse in getting to know him better since they already shared "so much in common." Axel tried to stop this travesty upon his "territory," but he couldn't do too much without seeming like he was protecting what was "his."

Immense flirting ensued and everyone except Axel found entertainment in it. The flirting lessened considerably when the group began to interact with each other. Seifer and Fuu hadn't followed them into the living room, so they all enjoyed each other's company. Roxas hadn't expected to have so much fun just messing around with everyone, but he did. Somehow, their conversation transformed into a weird form of capture the flag in which Loz, Yazoo, Kadaj, and Zexion were a team against Marluxia, Larxene, Demyx, and Axel. The two flags were Naminé and Roxas, which raised the stakes just a little higher than they should've been and made the game more intense.

In actuality, it was a lot of fun and a lot of shenanigans went down that Roxas wouldn't have expected. For example, Yazoo managed to trip down a flight of stairs, making Zexion absolutely lose his shit laughing. Roxas doubted that anyone had ever seen the bluenette laugh so much at one time, but it was magical, to be sure. The game lasted for about a half an hour before the adults called them to come eat dinner.

On the way to the dinner table, Zexion had jumped onto Roxas' back for a piggyback ride, and Loz decided to give Roxas a piggyback ride while giving Zexion a piggyback ride. Thus Roxas ended up sandwiched between a hot guy and his former friend with benefits. It sure was interesting.

Dinner proved to be interesting as well. Roxas thought it would be boring just to sit at a long table eating, but it wasn't like that at all. Everyone talked to each other and Roxas found the lively atmosphere nice. Riku's brothers finally met Sora and said he was cute, but assured Roxas that he was cuter, which enraged Axel, the blond could tell. He was sitting across the table from his secret boyfriend and it made him feel happy and valued.

The children all sat on one end of the very long dinner table in the Gallagher's very nice and large dining room while the adults sat at the other with Seifer and Fuu as a barrier between them. If there hadn't been that barrier, then the conversation amongst the children would've been more restrained and filtered. As it were, though, they discussed things, sex for example, without any form of civilized language. The triplets were quickly informed by everyone else that Roxas had participated in oral sex before, which intrigued them.

Sora got upset at this and tried to defend his twin by saying that Roxas had probably only done it once and he'd just gotten carried. If he hadn't finished off with a question of verification from Roxas, that probably would've been the end of it, but he _did_ ask for verification from the blond. Not wanting to lie, Roxas explained that he'd done it more than once consciously. This, of course, disheartened his dear twin brother as well as Axel, who looked about ready to kill at this point.

Everyone else seemed… excited (for lack of a better word) to hear this and the conversation continued on. They somehow got onto the topic of skinny dipping and Roxas recounted a few funny instances in which he'd gone skinny dipping back in the Islands. Surprisingly, Sora admitted to skinny dipping with Rikku once, which made everyone except Riku laugh and make jokes, especially when they didn't realize it at first that he was talking about his best friend in Destiny Islands. Sora turned redder than Axel's hair, which was amusing.

At the end of dinner, everyone was stuffed. Roxas ate more than his stomach could hold and more and everyone else appeared to have done the same. The children all piled back into the living room where they'd been talking earlier to be lazy while the adults, Seifer, and Fuu did all the dishes. Zexion and Demyx cuddled up together on a loveseat in the room, Larxene and Naminé leaned against Marluxia (who was in the middle of them) on a couch, Riku sat on the floor next to Axel with his back against a couch where the triplets laid out together and fit (to Roxas' surprise), and Roxas sat on the floor with his legs crossed and Sora sitting in his lap with his head curled into the crook of the blond's neck, much the same way they'd been at home hours earlier. All of them moaned in discomfort from being bloated.

"Hey, guys, want me to play some music for us?" Demyx wondered after a few solid minutes of moaning. Everyone gave a positive-sounding moan, which sent the sandy blond out of the room for a few moments. When he returned, he had his ukulele in his arms. "Alright," he said with a sigh as he flopped back down on the loveseat next to Zexion, "are there any requests?"

Sora raised his hand immediately, almost smacking Roxas in the face on its way up. Demyx smiled and called upon him. "Play something cute by Hellogoodbye," he demanded.

Demyx took a quick breath in and exhaled as he readied his fingers. He paused before starting to gaze at Zexion and smile as if silently dedicating the song to him. "_When we first met, your hair was long and brown you hadn't yet cut it all off_…" He began playing a quick, upbeat, cutesy song. His face lit up as he played and his charming smile tripled its usual charm.

Instead of swooning at Demyx as he might've about a month ago, Roxas could only stare at Axel with a sheepish look on his face. Unluckily for him, the redhead returned his gaze and grinned, making him blush lightly. He quickly looked away and down at Sora's hair and when he raised his head again, he saw that Axel had thrown his arms around Riku and cuddled up to the silveret. The blond raised an eyebrow and blushed again when Axel motioned subtly to the unperturbed silverette and then pointed even more subtly to Roxas.

Sora bristled in his twin's arms, though Roxas doubted Sora had picked up on Axel's gesticulations. '_God damn you, Axel, get your fucking hands __**off**__ him!_' The brunet only swore in his thoughts while extremely angry. It probably didn't help his anger much that Riku seemed utterly unaffected by Axel's presence. In fact, he looked quite content and relaxed, his eyes were even closed.

After another song that was too cheesy for its own good, the bloated feelings started to wear off, which made for a much livelier group. For some reason this newfound energy led to Kadaj, Loz, and Yazoo getting up from the couch and attacking Roxas. Kadaj managed to pin Roxas to the floor on his back and climbed on top in order to begin dry humping the blond. Of course, Sora and Axel protested and tried to get the three Gallagher boys away from him, but Loz and Yazoo simply turned on Sora and began raping him as well, which roped Riku into the situation as he tried desperately to get his brothers off his best friend.

Marluxia decided to help Kadaj (who was still flopping around on top of Roxas) by tackling Axel to the ground. Axel, Roxas, and Sora all protested against the abuse they were enduring and tried to fight back. Riku could only do so much to help Sora, though, seeing as it was two against one, so he couldn't make much progress. Since Axel was wrestling to get free from Marluxia and failing at it, Kadaj had the freedom to do as he pleased. Zexion and Demyx began making out on the couch while Larxene and Naminé watched the struggle on the floor and laughed their asses off.

"No, no, no, no!" Roxas repeated as Kadaj flipped him onto his back and straddled him. "Stop! Stop!"

The room grew louder for a moment and somehow Roxas got the chance to glance over at the entryway to the living room. All the adults were standing there watching the strange scene for a moment. Most of them simply shrugged it off and went to sat in the empty couches and seats on the other side of the living room to watch and be amused. Roxas thought he heard his father and mother ask if they should be doing something about it, but a voice that sounded like Reno's assured them it would be fine.

"Demyx, help me, goddamn it!" Axel cried as he fought to free himself from Marluxia.

Still attached to Zexion at the mouth, the sandy blond waved an arm at the redhead, signaling for him to deal with it on his own. Then he returned to sucking his boyfriend's face.

"Zexion!" Roxas begged from underneath Kadaj. "_Please_!"

Luckily for Roxas, Zexion broke apart from Demyx with a shy smile and a shrug. He got up from the couch, straightened himself up a bit, approached the struggling blond, cracked his knuckles, leaned down, grabbed Kadaj's sides, and easily removed him from his victim. From there, he threw the silveret onto the floor next to Roxas, picked the blond up by the shirt, stood him up on his feet, and set about fixing his hair and clothes as if nothing had even happened.

Since Zexion had already broken their kiss, Demyx decided to help Axel overcome Marluxia using a similar method to Zexion's, but he gave it a lot more effort for a less impressive effect. When he set the pinkette down, he was breathing quickly from the exertion.

"Wow, Demyx, you're such a _man_," Marluxia said with a grin.

The sandy blond's face erupted into red. "Shut up!"

"Call me up if you get tired of that thing," the pinkette said, gesturing to Zexion.

Demyx seemed horrified by every word to come out of Marluxia's mouth. "Zexion isn't a '_thing,_' he's a very lovely person with a wonderful personality, a cute face, and an IQ higher than practically double mine!" This little tidbit made the subject of their conversation smile shyly and flush pink a little. Demyx stepped away from Marluxia and Axel to wrap his arms around the object of his affection. "Plus, he's so small and adorable so how could I ever get tired of him?" he demanded as he nuzzled his cheek against the top of the bluenette's head.

While this display went on, Axel decided to assist Riku in freeing poor Sora from Loz and Yazoo. Being that Axel had little strength, he went for Yazoo, the weaker of the two. He and the silverette managed to liberate the brunet from his captors. He wasted no time with his newfound freedom, practically sprinting for Roxas.

The twins sat on the couch the triplets had previously occupied and Riku and Axel quickly joined them as if to protect them. The older boys sat next to their respective twin and Roxas could definitely see this becoming a normal thing, especially at home.

"It's okay, Roxas, I'll protect you from the even-bigger-than-usual kids," Axel assured the blond.

Roxas grinned and quirked an eyebrow in response. "Really? With what strength? The first time you tried to 'protect' me, you failed miserably." Even though the blond had only been joking, Axel seemed really affected by his words.

The redhead slumped in his seat a little bit and his head hung the slightest bit. "Yeah," he replied, sounding completely pissed off. His face seemed a little red with anger. '_Fuck, today day absolutely sucks. You're such a fucking __**idiot**__, Axel. Even Zexion protects him better than you can._'

Feeling worried, Roxas decided upon an action to make. Before executing his idea, he did a quick once-over of everyone in the living room. Sora and Riku talked and laughed together, Demyx and Zexion had returned to the loveseat and resumed kissing, Larxene, Marluxia, and Naminé cackled and told inappropriate stories together, and the adults all seemed absorbed in their own conversations. The blond saw his father grinning and talking with Reno and he chuckled, wondering for a moment if that's how it looked when he and Axel talked to each other. Remembering his original purpose, Roxas subtly walked his hand over to Axel's and rested it on top of the redhead's for a moment.

Without even looking at him, Axel turned his hand palm-up and their fingers interlaced together in a way so natural that it surprised Roxas a little bit. He noticed Axel's smile out of the corner of his eye and found himself smiling, too.

Abruptly, Axel got shoved out of his seat and their hands were torn apart. Kadaj was at it again. He took the redhead's spot and wrapped an arm around Roxas' waist. Then, without any sort of hesitation, he kissed the blond's temple as if they had been going out for a long time and they had done this countless times. "You are so _cute_," the silverette said with a grin.

Not wasting a moment, Axel got to his feet and stormed out of the room, his entire face painted red, as if he'd just put on war paint. He raged silently up the stairs to cool off. Or at least, Roxas hoped that's what he planned to do.

"Kadaj, get off me!" the blond demanded, attempting to shove the silverette away. Of course, nothing came of it, except for a smirk and a chuckle and another compliment calling the blond cute. At the end of his fuse, Roxas couldn't keep his body from moving on its own. His hand quickly made a fist, it reeled back, and then it was over. His knuckles hurt and he heard Kadaj groan and the snap of bone against bone. Knuckle against cheekbone. Metacarpals against zygomatic bone.

Kadaj looked at Roxas with a dumbfounded look on his face for a minute. It seemed then that he understood Roxas meant it when he told him to back off. "Oh," he said awkwardly, holding a hand to his cheek. "Sorry." Then he retracted his arm from the blond and went to join his two brothers on the ground together.

Before Roxas could even let out an angry, but relieved sigh, a crash sounded out louder than the conversations from somewhere in the floor above them. Everyone fell silent for a moment, wondering what it could have been. Shortly after the sound had echoed throughout the house, Axel came back down the steps and into the living room, appearing calmer than he was when he left. Everyone looked over at him for a moment. Disregarding everyone's stares, Axel looked to Riku.

"Riku, I broke the huge mirror in your room. And your bed sheets caught on fire, but don't worry, I put it out," he said very nonchalantly. Upon hearing this, everyone returned to their conversations, as if this was a normal happening.

"What the _fuck_?" Riku demanded, shocking the twins with his language. "Why the fuck did you do that?" They'd never heard him cuss before.

If Axel hadn't been in such a bad mood, Roxas suspected he would be sheepish. But he was still angry, so he opted to ignore the silverette and reclaim his spot next to Roxas. He slumped against the arm of the couch once again and once again, Roxas furtively held his hand, making sure no one noticed. The redhead seemed to calm down at that and smiled. He turned to look at his secret boyfriend, a warm, somewhat tired smile on his face.

From that point onwards, the night went by pretty smoothly and tranquilly, except for when Demyx forced Roxas to sing a duet with him because Axel had told the sandy blond that he had a good singing voice. Other than that, the night passed smoothly. The triplets left Roxas alone, which pleased both him and Axel, so that was good. Surprisingly, the Almasy siblings became the first to leave. Seifer surprised Roxas by acting like an actual adult. The bully had been the first to say that they had to go and then explained that Naminé's and Demyx's schedules for the next day required an apt amount of sleep. Honestly, it weirded Roxas out a bit to see how responsible Seifer was for his siblings.

The Strifes left at the same time as Marluxia, Larxene and their mother and father respectively. They all said their goodbyes to each other, Roxas receiving hugs and kisses from Ms. K, Mrs. Corazza, and the triplets before leaving on his way. Kadaj also slipped a sheet of paper into one of his back pockets while they were hugging goodbye and Roxas found that it had the silverette's number on it. That made Roxas grin and blush a little bit. He'd never gotten someone else's phone number before. At least, not someone who'd been flirting with him.

On the drive home, Cloud and Tifa talked about all the adults. It surprised Roxas just the slightest bit that Cloud got along really well with Reno. He could see how they would get along due to their similarities to their sons, but from what Roxas could tell, Reno was a big jerk. Also on the drive home, Cloud asked Roxas incriminating questions about Naminé, assuming they both liked each other. Sora jumped on the bandwagon, but quickly jumped off when Roxas asked where Riku and the brunet had snuck off to before dinner.

Something interesting that Cloud brought up was the fact that every one of Roxas' male friends all played for the other team. He sounded surprised that even Axel liked dick. Demyx and Zexion probably seemed straight before deciding to start dating; leaving Axel as the only seemingly-straight male in his friend group (Marluxia was too obviously gay to make much of a fuss over). Surprisingly, as they talked, Tifa didn't seem too put off by it. Cloud seemed more put off than she did, which worried Roxas. The older blond warned his son about Axel developing feelings for him, which, while ironic, seemed somewhat rude.

Sora decided to explain to their father that Axel had already fallen head over heels for Roxas, forcing the blond to punch him in the side.

"Roxas, does he really love you?" Cloud asked, sounding worried. They just now pulled into their driveway and everyone prepared to leave the car.

Once outside, Roxas admitted, "Yeah, he told me about it. Plus, he was pretty obvious about it before. I turned him down directly, though. He knows I'm straight."

And that was the end of that.

Immediately after entering the house, the entire family, sluggish from food and fun, trudged to their separate rooms to get ready to sleep. Roxas and Sora joked about the evening and talked about Riku's brothers. The brunet let his twin know that Loz and Yazoo didn't seem serious about being interested in him, but Kadaj seemed completely serious. He then warned his twin about the dangers of dating an older man who already attended college far away, so Roxas pointed out that Riku was older and would be going off to college the following autumn. That made Sora quiet down.

After finally getting dressed and settling down after a long conversation with Sora, Roxas finally crawled into bed and waited for sleep to take him away. Today had been a day that he wouldn't soon forget. Of course, the day wasn't completely over yet. Days for Roxas ended not when the clock hit 12:00AM, but when he fell asleep at night and woke up in the morning. No, the day wasn't quiet yet over. Roxas wouldn't be sleeping until morning came.

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><p><strong>AN: [1]** Axel : But you would miss me ! I know you love me. It's okay, because I understand that you are very mean and you can't accept how much you love me. Anyway, I heart you're going to celebrate Thanksgiving with me. Is that true ? I can see your beautiful face tomorrow ? I'm very exited.

Roxas : Yes, it's true. I will be at Riku's house tomorrow. I'm excited, but… uh… I don't want to see your father. If I see him, can I ignore him ? Really, I don't want to talk to him.

Axel : You don't have to worry. I've been igoring him since the day you came over to my house. I'm still pissed at him ! Still, I can't believe how rude he was to you. So, I understand that you don't want to see him, but he'll be there tomorrow. I'm sorry, but I can't do anything about it. With luck, he'll only talk with the other adults. I mean, seriously…

Roxas : Hey, Axel, I like your French. It's perfect. Just saying.

**[2]** Fuck me.

Alright, alright, yes, that is the chapter! Am I pleased with it? Yes. Are you pleased with it? Idk, tell me about it =o

But yeah, so lots happened and I tried to leave it at a cliff hanger, but I do not think it is a very good cliffhanger.

Anyway, to remedy this problem of over-thinking the story to the point that I don't feel motivated to write it anymore, I've decided to try doing one of those 100 theme writing things. I made up the themes myself and I've already gone through quite a few. My goal is to get used to writing at least a little bit every day and to take my mind off of this story until when I'm actually writing it.

I have a tumblr now, though I don't use it much yet, so maybe I'll start posting them there. They're all gonna be KH fanfics and once I reach 10 completed themes, I'm gonna start uploading them here. But yeah. So. If you wanna. Tumblr is scooterwoof. tumblr No space.

Anyway, so yeah, if you liked this chapter or hated it you should tell me all about it and such and you should love me despite my tardiness in updating! (I still don't understand how I went from updating every couple of weeks to 2 months. Holy moly.)

Kisses~!


	22. Too Many Feels and Too Much Sugar

**A/N: **Hey howdy hey! It hasn't been two months yet =D Only one month, and while that still isn't completely ideal, it's still an improvement. Surprisingly, laziness wasn't what kept me from writing this chapter. I actually worked on it pretty solidly when I had the time. Doing the 100 theme challenge has kept me busy during the week, which is good and if you would like to read it, it's on my profile. Each drabble is fairly short and I'm actually keeping up with the days and the themes, which is an accomplishment for me. I've only been updating the actual story roughly every Monday and Friday to ensure that I'll have oodles of themes to post even if I happen to fall a few days behind on the actual writing.

So yeah! Hope you enjoy this chapter~! I certainly enjoyed writing it~

Kingdom Hearts © Disney and Enix

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><p>At around 1:45 AM, Roxas received a phone call, which roused him awake from his light sleeping. Groaning, he didn't even bother looking at the caller ID. Putting the device to his ear, he grumbled out a quiet, "Hello?" into the speaker.<p>

"Hey, Roxy!" Axel's unbearably chipper voice made the blond groan some more. "Did I wake you up?" he wondered.

"Yes, as a matter of fact, you did. Now what do you even _want_?"

"Okay, so don't freak out or anything, but I'm parked outside of your house right now," Axel explained over the phone.

Roxas shot up into a sitting position. "_What_?" he demanded as quietly as possible. "Why the fuck are you here?"

"It's sleepover time. You are spending the night at my house this evening. So come on," the redhead replied.

"Axel, I can't…"

"Would you really have me drive all the way back home after I waited hours until I thought it was safe to come over and then drove all the way here?"

The blond didn't reply immediately. He hated guilt trips so much. "You're a fucking asshole… God damn." He ran a hand through his hair as he thought the situation over. Spending time with Axel after the three Gallagher brothers had been all over the blond sounded fair, and perhaps that put more weight on his decision. "Fine, you fucker. Give me like ten minutes to get my shit together and think of a reason I won't be here when Sora wakes up."

"Yaaay! Kisses forever, Roxy!"

Before Axel could say anymore, Roxas hung up. He pulled himself out of bed and packed away some clothes he would wear in the morning in one of Sora's shoebags administered to the swim team back in Destiny Islands. Then he silently wrote a note about how he went to watch the sunrise with his friends and would probably be spending the day with them afterwards and left it on his bunk. After all this, Roxas snuck into the bathroom with his shoebag in hand, brushed his teeth for a second time that night to ensure that he had no bad breath while he spent the night with Axel. Once he washed all the toothpaste from his mouth, he quickly jacked off to release any tension built up since the last time he'd given himself some love. He wanted to be sure there wasn't even the tiniest hint to Axel that anything would go down during their evening together.

Once satisfied, Roxas worked his hair back to perfection, made sure he looked at least presentable, and then left the bathroom, walked down the empty hall, descended the darkened stairs, and went out the front door, locking the thing behind him. Unsurprisingly, Axel's truck sat in front of his house, completely turned off. With a sigh, Roxas continued on down the walkway to the truck.

The moment he opened the door and hopped into the passenger's seat, Axel had his arms around the blond, kissing his cheek and snuggling him. "Oh, Roxy, I'm so glad you decided to join me!" the redhead cheered.

Blushing, Roxas couldn't help but smile as he closed the door. "You really didn't give me a choice, asshole."

Axel sighed, sounding irritated. "How many times do I have to tell you my name is pronounced 'Axel' not 'asshole'?" He chuckled at the disappointed face Roxas gave him and quickly peeled out of the blond's neighborhood. "Kisses," he cooed with a poke to the blond's stomach.

"'Ey, don't touch my fat, you wiener! And anyway, why is your dad letting us have a sleepover if he knows we're dating? Does he_want_ to enable you to take advantage of me?" the blond demanded. "I don't even want to _see_ him anyway, so why the shitty idea?"

"Hum, well, Reno got really upset and insecure 'cause I haven't talked to him since the last time you came over. I'm pretty much the only thing he has going in his life right now, you know, since he doesn't live with anyone else, and he basically went crazy with loneliness and begged for my forgiveness," Axel explained.

"I see, and how does that relate to this exactly?" Roxas wondered.

"Ah, very good question, Roxy! I struck up a deal with him. Basically, I told him that if he could prove to you that he's not always a complete asshole and let you stay the night without bothering you, I would forgive him. Of course, he agreed," the older teen replied. He continued on in speculation. "I don't know why he always caves so easily for me, but I'm pretty sure it has to do with the fact that we look almost identical. Anyway, so you don't have to worry about him being a douche."

"Yes, if he turned into a shower, that would just be fucking weird. I would probably run away from your house again." Roxas grinned at Axel, who turned and grinned back.

"So silly, this kid."

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><p>When Axel and Roxas pulled into the parking lot of the redhead's apartment complex, they had a quick make-out session just like the previous time they'd come here. Roxas still owed Axel a bunch of kisses from the previous day, so he figured it was a good time to start on that. When satisfied for the time being, they went up to Axel's apartment, hand in hand.<p>

Much like last time, Reno sat on the couch in the little living room just beyond the entrance. This time, though, he watched TV and looked less like he'd been waiting for the couple to show up. He greeted them briefly and continued watching TV, obviously trying to appease Axel.

Roxas had been hoping they'd go directly to Axel's room, but he had no such luck. Instead, the redhead plopped down on the couch next to his father and motioned for Roxas to sit next to him. He obliged and quickly found himself in the hot seat as a result of the shenanigans that went down earlier at Riku's house.

"Why would you let Riku's brothers walk all over you like that? And what the hell was that thing with Naminé at the very beginning? You had your fucking arm around her from the moment she welcomed you until when Kadaj started messing around with you!" Axel recounted.

Feeling uncomfortable about having an argument with his boyfriend in the same room, much less on the same couch, with his boyfriend's father, Roxas responded rather uncertainly, "I'm sorry?" Seeing as Reno didn't appear affected by any of this whatsoever, Roxas continued on. "Look, the thing with Naminé, it's just that she's sort of my cover for my parents? It's not like I actually like her, and she knows that. I just can't be friends with a bunch of gay guys without my parents thinking that I'm gay, too. Especially now that they know for sure that every single one of my guy friends is gay."

"That still doesn't explain why you let Kadaj, Loz, and Yazoo mess around with you!"

"Ugh, Axel, it's not like I _asked_ them to be all over me! After you went off to Riku's room, I punched Kadaj in the face. That's why he left me alone the rest of the time. Besides," Roxas scooted closer to Axel and slowly trailed his arms up his boyfriend's torso to rest on both sides of his neck and gazed into his green eyes, noticing that the redhead was blushing, "I'm not interested in them. I already have you." And with that said, Roxas closed the gap between them and softly kissed his boyfriend, who very willingly kissed back.

Axel pulled away all of the sudden and chuckled nervously. "I'll be right back, I just gotta take care of something really quick!"

"You didn't take care of that _beforehand_?" Roxas asked incredulously as Axel stood up and rushed out of the living room and down the small hallway.

"Nope!" Axel's voice carried down the hall.

And that left Roxas alone with Reno. Nervousness filled him and he began picking at his fingers as he turned to face the TV instead of Reno. As he sat there and fidgeted, he cautiously snuck little glances over at the redhead. The blond had to admit, he was a _very_ attractive man. He wondered idly at the back of his mind if Axel would grow to become as good looking as his father, and if so, he was excited to see it.

"Hey, Roxas," Reno said suddenly, startling the blond out of his thoughts.

"Huh?" he responded intelligently, his cheeks bright red. He hadn't been caught daydreaming about Reno and Axel, had he?

Reno turned to face him and looked at him dead in the eye. "I just want to apologize for how I acted the last time you were here. I know this is probably no excuse, but I just thought that Axel wasn't serious about you, but you looked so earnest and I just didn't want him to take advantage of you or anything. Do you forgive me?" The genuinely guilty look on his face made Roxas swoon on the inside. Axel looked cute when he felt guilty, but Reno looked drop dead _gorgeous_ when he felt guilty.

"Um, yeah, I guess I forgive you," the blond responded after thickly swallowing. He could've really used a glass of water at that moment.

"Good. And now that I know how serious Axel is about you, I'm going to turn into the overly-protect father every child should have and tell you that if you break his heart, I'll fuck you up." Reno gave the blond a deathly serious look.

"Oh, oh, okay." And just like that, Roxas felt uncomfortable with the older redhead again.

After about a full twenty seconds of silence, Reno started laughing. "I'm just fucking with you, Roxas! I like you, kid, you're cute. I can see why Axel likes you. You look like you try not to take shit from anyone, but you're too small and cute to really do anything about it, and that's just adorable." Before Roxas could make an indignant comeback, Reno continued on. "And anyway, I talked your dad today and I kinda told him Axel was gay, because he didn't know beforehand, I guess, and he asked me how I dealt with him coming out, so I gave him a little rundown of how it went down, so now he could be more open to the idea of you being gay. Just thought I'd let you know."

"Oh, well, thanks I guess. I doubt I'll be coming out anytime soon, though," Roxas replied. It did touch him a little bit that Reno would go out of his way to do that for him. Maybe the redhead wasn't as much of a douchebag as he'd originally thought. Before he could question it any further, though, Axel reentered the room and invited the blond into his room.

Excited to spend the night with his boyfriend, Roxas quickly followed the redhead to his room. Axel was picking up some laundry thrown onto the floor, so Roxas took the moment to flop down onto the redhead's bed and inhale his boyfriend's scent as inconspicuously as possible. He lay there, simply breathing in the redhead's essence for a few minutes until finally Axel flopped down on top of the blond and kissed his temple.

"Your pajamas are pretty much the cutest thing." Roxas could feel the redhead's smile against his ear.

Roxas lie there for a moment trying to remember which pajama pants he had chosen to wear that evening. He flushed red when he remembered he was wearing Bugs Bunny pajamas. "At least they're not _My Little Pony_ pajamas," he retorted.

Axel slid off of Roxas to lie next to him. "Hey, that would be a lovely thing!" he replied indignantly. He smiled again and put a hand to the blond's cheek so that he could kiss him.

Roxas' arms wrapped around the redhead, pulling himself closer against his secret boyfriend. He returned the kiss and when Axel broke the kiss, he made sure to kiss the redhead several more times, which led to another make-out session where Axel somehow ended up on top of the blond, pinning him down and shoving his tongue into his mouth.

A knock sounding at the door, made the two boys stop their kissing and separate.

"Remember our deal, Axel!" Reno's voice carried through the wooden door. "Good night, kiddies!"

"Fuck off, Reno," Axel replied loud enough to ensure that his father heard him. His face rivaled his hair in color, and Roxas laughed.

For some reason, whatever stick had been lodged into the blond's ass (maybe from being woken up too early) fell right out and he pulled Axel down to kiss him some more. "You're adorable, Axel," he said through heated kisses. He chuckled when Axel broke the kiss and moved to his neck.

"No way, I'm sexy," Axel assured the blond. He nipped the smaller boy's neck for the last time. "Now, on that note, I believe it is sleepy time. Otherwise I'll just end up raping you. And I'm sure neither of us wants that."

So the two got under the sheets, and lay there facing opposite directions silently as they tried to fall asleep. One thing Roxas noticed as he lay there and time passed was the fact that, if Axel had a heater, it definitely wasn't turned on, and the sheets did little to warm him. He began to shiver. The sound of Axel chuckling surprised Roxas. He hadn't known Axel was still awake.

"Are you cold?" the redhead's voice lingered in the dark, sounding almost warm enough to relieve Roxas' coldness.

Suddenly, heat engulfed Roxas, and he sighed contentedly in Axel's arms. He maneuvered himself to turn around and face Axel and then buried his cold face into the redhead's chest. "Holy shit, Axel why are you so warm?" he wondered dreamily.

"For the sole purpose of making you happy, cutie," Axel replied with a chuckle. He rubbed his arms against Roxas' back and kissed the top of his head. "Why are you so cold?"

"I don't know, but _god_, this is the best thing," Roxas practically moaned. "Oh god, oh god, oh god, I've lost my ability to even. I literally can't even. Ooooh, Axel," the blond continued on. He snuggled into the redhead as much as he possibly could.

Axel chuckled again and kissed Roxas a few more times. "You're so adorable, Roxas…" he cooed. "Do you want it to be warmer? Or is this okay?" He asked this very carefully, as if he could destroy the world if he misspoke.

"Hmm… Well, if it involves you leaving, then no. But if not, then _yes_, warmer is _way, way_ better. Oh god, Axel, shut the fuck up, I can't," he continued to sigh. Surprisingly, Axel steadily felt warmer and warmer. "_Axel_," he moaned. That's when he realized that Axel had gotten warmer without doing anything different. He didn't shiver or rub against Roxas or anything that could create friction and heat. "How did you even do that?" the blond wondered. He pulled his face out of the redhead's chest and gazed curiously at Axel's face.

"I don't know," Axel replied in a whisper, "it's just something I've been able to do ever since I can remember. Do you think it's weird?" '_Oh, god, Roxas is gonna think I'm a freak. Am I really about to tell him this?_'

The thought tipped Roxas off and led him to believe that this could be Axel's special ability. "No, not at all," Roxas responded. He rapidly thought of ways he could coax Axel into continuing. "So does that mean, yesterday when you called me and said that when you get angry enough, you overheat, you meant it literally?" the blond wondered slowly.

Axel nodded. "Yeah." '_No, don't tell him, stop telling him! He'll leave you!_'

"So what happens when you overheat?" Roxas wondered.

"I can breathe fire. But only when I'm mad enough. That's how I set Riku's sheets on fire," the redhead admitted. '_Oh, god, Axel, why did you tell him?_' "You don't think I'm a freak, do you?" '_Oh god, please no._'

Roxas smiled and started giggling. "So that's your special ability, hmm?" he wondered playfully. Axel trusted him enough to tell him such a secretive thing. He couldn't help but smile and laugh.

"Hey, I'm not joking, Roxas!" Axel persuaded him, staring at him intently. "I really can breathe fire. Whatever, if you want to go, you can leave, but if you do, please just keep this a secret."

Roxas really couldn't stop laughing, and he kissed Axel's cheeks until he could properly kiss his mouth without laughing. "I know. I believe you. But I won't leave you. I have a secret for you, too," Roxas whispered.

"Huh?" Axel looked genuinely confused and curious. '_What is happening?_'

"I can read truths," the blond confessed. After a quick moment, he added, "It's like reading minds, but it's different. It only shows what you are currently thinking. And it only shows words."

"Um, what?" Axel was staring at him incredulously, his forehead completely blank.

"Like, just a moment ago, you were thinking 'Oh god, please no' and then just now you thought 'What is happening.' So yeah, I can read truths, er minds. Whatever. Yeah. We both have special abilities. And so do Zexion and Naminé." Roxas' excitement could've carried him away and off a cliff and he would've survived just to feel excited.

"What?" Axel looked perplexed and dumbfounded and just very incomprehensive of the situation.

Roxas began laughing again. "Look, I'll explain better in the morning. For now, I'm gonna drown in your heat, thank you very much. Kisses~!" And he kissed Axel good night for the final time before settling back into the crook of Axel's neck and snuggling his face into the redhead's chest.

* * *

><p>Roxas awoke to find himself terribly alone and cold without his human heater next to him the way he had been last night. The blond studied to room for a moment from his place on the bed and saw Axel wasn't in the room at all. He sighed, not wanting to leave the comfortable Axel-smelling bed, but at the same time, he wanted to know where the redhead had gone. Reluctantly, he took one last inhale of Axel's ashy scent and then slowly made his way out of the bed, stretching and yawning as he went.<p>

Once Roxas stepped out of the bedroom, a wall of cold hit him and he quickly returned to the room to rifle through his bag and pull out the sweater he'd packed as well as his phone. Once all covered up, the blond continued out the bedroom door and trudged down the hall to the living room while rubbing the sleep from his eyes. He saw the back of Axel's head in the kitchen and his stomach flopped over, making Roxas feel weird and icky to a degree. His lips automatically formed a smile and he found himself breathless. Quickly he scowled and tried to force his body to function normally. He liked not having knots in his stomach, thank you very much.

With a quick sigh of preparation, Roxas continued on into the kitchen and sat down at the small, four-person dining table next to Axel. He mumbled a good morning to Axel, who raised the mug in his hand in reply due to his cheeks being full of coffee.

"I didn't know you drank coffee," the blond commented as he pulled out his phone and quickly checked it for any calls or texts.

Axel finally swallowed and sighed contentedly. He placed the mug down decisively so that it made a mild bang. "Well," he shrugged, "I don't normally. But, once in a while, I do. Kinda couldn't sleep last night. I couldn't stop thinking about the cute little blond boy in my arms."

"You're gonna be a pedophile when you get older," Roxas snorted in reply.

"Only until you're eighteen, babe," the redhead promised.

Roxas grinned and stood up so he could approach Axel from behind. The redhead tried to turn around to see what he was doing, but Roxas instructed him to stay still, so he obeyed. Cautiously, Roxas lifted his hands to Axel's hair and ran his fingers through the crimson tresses. "Ahh," he sighed, "you have such pretty hair." A relaxed smile curved on Roxas' face and he sighed again.

"Pretty? What are you talking about? My hair is sexy! It's like a tribal warrior or some shit!"

"Such a pretty princess!" Roxas cooed. He ran his fingers down the length of Axel's hair and found himself mesmerized by its texture. It tingled against his fingertips in a way that left him feeling unsatisfied and needing more.

"Oh, yeah, Rox, what exactly were you telling me last night? Like, remember, I said that I could… you know… adjust my body temperature and… breathe fire?" the redhead spoke up. He sounded somewhat hesitant to talk about the subject, and Roxas understood the feeling.

Deciding that this conversation was better had face to face, he sat down at the table once more and gazed down at his hands. "Well, I can read truths. Er, well, that's just what I call it. It's more like reading minds, but I don't think it's as thorough. I can only see what you're thinking currently and I can only see words," the blond slowly explained.

"So where exactly to you see these words?"

"Oh, on people's foreheads."

"Wait," Axel paused for a moment to think. "So does that mean that the entire time you've known me, you've seen every single thing I've thought about you? So you've known about my crush on you for a long time?"

"Well," Roxas sighed, "yeah, I've known for a while. I didn't really know what to do in that situation. I mean, I _did_ like you, but I was confused and I didn't want to lead you on if I wasn't sure, so I tried backing off, but you just kept coming after me. So now we're a secret. Yup. That's what happened and that's why I didn't say anything sooner," he explained. "Plus, I don't really use what people think for anything. I don't like doing that since it seems really underhanded."

"Aw, Roxy, look at you, being all virtuous and shit!" Axel grinned his most glamorous shit-eating grin. "But really, that's fucking rad. Didn't you also say something about Zexion and Naminé last night or something?"

"Oh, yeah, we should discuss this with them. They'd like to hear about this. They have their own special things that they can do as well, so it would be absolutely wonderful if we could talk together and share our feelings," Roxas explained.

At that point, Reno opened his door at the end of the hallway and trudged tiredly out of his room and down the hallway towards them. Seeing that they weren't alone anymore, they quickly silenced themselves so as not to expose their secrets. Reno went directly for the pot of coffee that was still half full from when Axel had used it to make his own coffee and poured himself a tall mug of it. Then he sat down at the table and stared confusedly and curiously at the oddly-quiet teenagers that were staring at him.

"Oh, yeah," the older redhead broke the silence. "Roxas, I'm gonna need you to take off your shirt and let me examine you."

Roxas gave Reno a strange, confused look. He glanced to Axel for help, but his boyfriend simply rolled his eyes and took another long swig of his coffee. "Um, why?" he wondered.

"Just do as I say, kid, or else I'll rat on you to your parents." In response to the offended, irritated look Roxas began to give him, he quirked a brow and looked down on the blond. "Oh, don't think that I won't. I don't mind being a douchebag, and I'm sure you've noticed that already. Now, shirt: off."

Roxas sighed and rolled his eyes, but stood and took his shirt off all the same. Growing up on Destiny Islands, Roxas was very accustomed to going shirtless and, though he wish he had more muscle definition, was fairly comfortable with his body. Seeing his bare body had become normal for him and honestly, if the weather permitted it in Radiant Garden, Roxas probably wouldn't care to wear a shirt at all. Of course, the fact that Axel was watching did seem a bit embarrassing to him. He knew he lacked any form of muscle or fat. Really, he was practically skin and bone, and it scared him to think of the things Axel could be thinking about him.

"Wait, wait, wait, Rox, what's that?" Axel spoke up, pointing to a discolored splotch on Roxas' back.

"Huh? Oh this?" He pointed to the spot and Axel nodded. "Oh, when we were little, Sora pushed me off this tree accidentally and I fell like fifteen to twenty feet and landed on a rock in these shallow waters and yeah. It's a scar," he explained.

"Alright, well, everything checks out," Reno stated. "You can put your shirt back on again."

Roxas obeyed and then sat back down. "What exactly was that about?" he asked.

"I told Axel I would let you sleep over as long as there was no sex. And in the past, I've noticed that Axel likes leaving marks on his victims." Before Reno could say anymore, Axel jabbed him sharply with his elbow.

"Yeah, that's enough out of you," the younger redhead growled, flushing red.

Feeling uncomfortable, Roxas turned his attention to his cell phone. He didn't want to think of the people Axel had slept with or what he'd done with them. It made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. Surprisingly, during the time he'd been showing Reno that Axel had not, in fact, touched him, he had received a text from a number he didn't recognize, but soon discovered that Kadaj had been the one who sent it. He grinned at the invitation to what could only be called a date.

"What has you all happy?" Axel mumbled curiously.

Roxas quirked an eyebrow. "I think I'm gonna go on a date with Kadaj today."

"What?" Axel's face immediately went blank, making Roxas want to snigger inappropriately.

"I'm gonna go on a date with Kadaj," the blond repeated.

The poor redhead's face visibly crumbled and his small eyebrows furrowed furiously. "I heard you the first time, asshole. You're gonna go on a date with _that_ jerk?" And the jealousy plainly showed on his forehead. '_God fucking damn it!_'

"Wait, you don't think I should?" Roxas tilted his head curiously. He batted his eyelashes innocently at his boyfriend. Oh, how he loved teasing Axel.

"Hell no! Goddamn, Rox, you're _mine_!"

Roxas flinched when the redhead suddenly grabbed at his hands, thinking that Axel would go for the collar of his shirt. Contrary to the violent reaction he'd expected, the redhead simply rubbed at the blond's hand with his thumb and gazed anxiously into his eyes. '_Please, please, please don't leave me, Rox…_'

"Jeez, you're no fun to tease anymore! What happened? You got so jealous and angry yesterday! Calm down, I'm not gonna leave you, stupid," Roxas grumbled with a roll of his eyes.

Axel scowled. "I just worry, okay? It's one thing if Kadaj comes onto you, but it totally isn't the same thing if you pretend to come onto him." The redhead then cupped Roxas's cheeks and gently kissed him.

"Okay, ew, too much sugar." Reno pretended to gag.

Moment ruined, the couple separated. Reno began to prepare breakfast for the three of them, so Roxas took advantage of this time to get dressed and text Zexion and Naminé and request that they all hang out to discuss this development. He also received a phone call from a very pissed-off Sora. His twin practically breathed fire through the phone with his tirade, not buying the bullshit excuse about "watching the sunset." Roxas assured him that he hadn't done anything illegal, and then promised to call him back later. He really didn't want to deal with his twin at the time.

Breakfast proved to be interesting because Roxas and Axel had an eating competition once the redhead commented on how much Roxas was eating. The redhead won, but Roxas attributed it to Axel's greater height, which prompted a whole segment of short jokes from both Axel _and_ Reno. Roxas lost count of how many times he rolled his eyes during that conversation, but it was definitely more than enough to last him for a month.

After a couple of hours and many texts, Axel and Roxas ended up at the blond's house. Zexion and Naminé had agreed to hang out that day, and they elected Roxas' house because Naminé hadn't had the chance to see it, yet. At first, Roxas had been a bit apprehensive, but then Zexion reminded his best friend that Sora and Demyx had practice that day, so the brunet wouldn't be around for a while. These events found Axel, Roxas, and Zexion sitting in the blond's living room waiting for Naminé to show up because she was currently in the middle of an art class.

When they got there, Cloud seemed skeptical about the redhead being there. Both he and Tifa somehow knew that the twins had made a deal that Axel couldn't come over. Roxas pulled out his best begging face and guilt trips, and it worked, luckily. Cloud warned him about Tifa, saying she wouldn't be so lenient about the blond breaking a promise but Roxas waved it off.

"So, Zexy, how are things with you and Demyx? Haven't really heard much from you guys since you started dating," Roxas wondered as the three settled down on the couch in the living room. Probably the only reason Roxas had said anything was to keep himself distracted from the urge he felt to cuddle with Axel. During his punishment, he'd spent so much time cuddling with the redhead on this couch that it just felt natural to do so.

Zexion smiled shyly, regarding Axel for a moment before returning his attention to Roxas. '_I better not say too much_.' "Things are great. I hadn't expected Demyx to be so, well, perfect. He's very considerate and somewhat stereotypical as far the image of 'boyfriend' goes. He calls and texts me constantly, carries my shit, compliments me, opens doors for me, you know, the works," the bluenette explained.

Axel grinned from his position on the couch and chuckled. "Oh, Demyx, he's such a sap," the redhead snorted. It sounded light-hearted enough, but Roxas caught hint of a worried edge to his voice. He looked curiously at his secret boyfriend. '_Does Roxas expect me to do all that for him?_'

Roxas laughed, making Axel blush and sit up straighter. The blond rolled his eyes and turned his attention back to his friend.

"I suppose he is a bit of a sap, but I like it. Even if I tried to refuse, he probably wouldn't have it," Zexion continued on, oblivious to the exchange that had just taken place between Roxas and Axel. "I don't really know what else to say at current. Perhaps I'll think of something more to say later on."

"So have you had sex yet?" Axel nonchalantly asked.

Immediately Zexion flushed red. "No, not yet," he admitted, looking very uncomfortable. "I would prefer it if we didn't discuss mine and Demyx's sex life."

A knock at the door saved Zexion from further embarrassment, and Roxas chuckled as he went to go answer it. Naminé stood on the landing with a somewhat irritated look on her face and a sketchbook and pencil box under one arm. She smiled for the blond when he invited her inside and gave him a hug.

They ended up settling on the floor surrounding the table.

"Hey, beautiful," Axel greeted with a grin, adjusting himself so that he could sit in a more comfortable position.

"Hey, fire crotch, how's it going?" she replied with her own grin.

Cloud walked in from the kitchen and regarded the scene for a moment before giving a small smile. "Hello, Naminé, right?" he guessed.

"Oh, yeah," Naminé put on her brightest smile and tilted her head innocently to the side. "It's nice to meet you, Mr. Strife! I don't think we were introduced yesterday. Thank you for letting us hang here."

Cloud simply nodded and continued towards the stairs. '_Sweet girl_.'

"That chem test on Friday completely fucked me in the ass, and not in a fun way," the blonde said not a moment later, causing Cloud to pause for a moment on the stairs, unsure of what to make of what he'd just heard or if he'd even heard what she'd said correctly.

"Oh, Mr. Price put the grades up?" Zexion wondered, trying not to smile at Mr. Strife's obvious surprise.

This idle chat only served to create noise until Cloud left the room and they could get to the point of this little meeting.

"Yup, I went down almost 5% in that class. I have a fucking B- now, goddamn it!"

And then the older blond had disappeared upstairs and the area was secure for the conversation they were waiting for.

"So why are we here exactly?" the blunette wondered, glancing at Roxas and Axel curiously for a moment.

The redhead shrank back into his seat and looked extremely uncomfortable. He looked at the wall opposite the couch intently and refused to let his gaze travel anywhere incriminating. On the other hand, Roxas perked up and sat straighter, his eyes bright.

"Actually, I told Axel about my truth-reading thing," Roxas explained, "and he told me he could do something, too, right?" He looked at the redhead for a moment. Upon seeing Axel's anxiety in this situation, Roxas furtively grabbed his hand and stroked the top of it with his thumb.

Axel cleared his throat for a moment before sitting up and wiping his free hand on his pants. "Um, I guess," he admitted. Before anyone could say anything else, he added, "I'm not crazy, I promise!"

The already-enlightened trio exchanged amused expressions and chuckled. "We know that, Axel, we can do stuff, too."

"Yeah, that's why I called you here, remember?" Roxas looked at him expectantly.

"Oh, yeah," Axel murmured.

Again, Zexion and Naminé exchanged amused looks. "It's okay, Axel, we all have special abilities. For example, I can increase power levels of any being. It's called power augmentation."

Naminé smiled as she continued on, "And I can read minds. It's different from Roxas's ability, though, and less reliable. I just see everything on someone's mind, even if they're not actively thinking about it, and it's hard to make sense of any of it." She looked curiously at the redhead for a moment and gently asked, "So what can you do?"

"I can change my body's temperature and I can breathe fire if it gets hot enough," he seemed to grow more comfortable as he spoke, "but I usually have to be really angry for me to get over-heated to breathe fire. I can't really control it all that well."

And from there, the conversation continued on in secrecy under the guise of a TV show. They explained to each other the extent and shortcomings of their abilities, and it surprised Roxas to hear that Zexion could raise more than just physical strength levels, but other things as well like intelligence and skills in abilities such as singing and drawing. It came as no surprise to anyone that Zexion's power was the most complicated, but then the bluenette pointed out that among them, he was the only to study his power and practice it. If they all were to practice and study their ability, he hypothesized, they could learn more about the boundaries of their powers.

The group disbanded after about an hour and a half of discussing when Naminé had to leave. Axel left soon after, deciding it best if he went on his way before Sora came home. They decided to meet up again later and to practice with their abilities more, even though Roxas wasn't even sure how to practice his, seeing as it was a passive ability.

That evening, Mrs. Corazza came over to request that Zexion spend the night at the Strifes' household. The Strifes questioned their want for Zexion to stay over, so Mrs. Corazza explained with a straight face that she and Mr. Corazza didn't like to have sex while Zexion was home, and that explained how Zexion found himself at the Strifes' dinner table later in the night.

"So, Zexy, how are things with you and Demyx?" Sora wondered after everyone had sat down to eat. This immediately made Cloud and Tifa uncomfortable for a reason Roxas couldn't exactly place. Their foreheads didn't reveal much either, but it seemed strange considering how Cloud had seemed okay with homosexuality the last time they'd talked about Demyx and Zexion at the dinner table.

"Fine, I suppose," Zexion responded to the brunet's question. He kept his voice low and made sure to cram a lot of food in his mouth in an attempt to convey that he really didn't feel like talking about it.

Sora ignored all of this, however, and pushed the subject. "That's good! I actually already knew that because Demyx still talks about you constantly," he explained. His face brightened suddenly and he slammed a hand down on the table, narrowly missing his plate. "Oh yeah! That reminds me, do you have a special pet name or something for him?"

Roxas tried not to laugh at the extremely confused look on Zexion's face, but he was simply too cute, and found himself chuckling.

"Um, no, not really," the bluenette trailed off in a very suspicious manner.

Surprisingly, Sora caught onto his disingenuous tone. His face lit up even more. "What is it? Oh my god, what is it? I bet it's absolutely adorable! Tell me, tell me, tell me!"

Zexion gave a defeated sigh, closed his eyes, furrowed his brows, and pinched at the bridge of his nose. "Look, I call him Rammy sometimes, okay?"

"Rammy?" The twins looked at him, confused.

"Have you ever read the comic series by Bryan O'Malley called _Scott Pilgrim_?"

Roxas couldn't help but laugh and Sora immediately began swooning once they realized the reference he was making. "Awww! Zexion, that's the most adorable thing ever! Why are you so _cute_?"

"Are you seriously calling him that?" Roxas wondered, eyebrow quirked.

Zexion grinned. "Not to his face!" he replied with a quote.

"You know, Zexion, I never would've expected that _you_ read comic books," Sora said after he'd finished swooning.

In response, Zexion shrugged. "Normally I don't, but Demyx told me it was his favorite 'book,' so I read it," he explained.

That made Sora continue swooning. "Oh, _goodness_, Zexion, you need to stop being so gosh darn cute! You and Demyx make the cutest couple _ever_! Oh, god, I can't contain these feels! I'm feeling too many feels!" Sora began giggling hysterically.

When he was sure that Sora wouldn't keep talking, Cloud entered the conversation. "So, Roxas, that Naminé girl is pretty cute," he said, making Sora and Tifa perk up curiously.

Zexion snorted at this, garnering strange looks from all the Strifes except for Roxas. "She's so butch that it's quite ridiculous."

Roxas laughed at this. "She's not _that_ bad. And she's still cute. Come on, she's shorter than _you_. That's just adorable."

The bluenette huffed at the last bit. "I don't think you know the half of it, Roxas. Whenever she stays over at my house, she takes my boxers and wears them as if they were her own. And she can shotgun a beer faster than even Seifer and burp louder than Axel. You know, she doesn't even wear a bra because she says that even AAA-cups are a bit too big for her."

"I don't really want to know why you know that," Roxas murmured.

And the conversations continued on like that for the remainder of dinner. Roxas had a feeling that his parents wouldn't like Zexion's outspoken attitude. This attitude surprised even Roxas because he had no idea that his best friend would be so comfortable with his family to be that way, but it made him feel like he and the bluenette really had a nice friendship. And surprisingly, Cloud and Tifa seemed oddly charmed by his frank, somewhat austere way of speaking.

Needless to say, the twins and Zexion enjoyed themselves that evening. Sora declared that from that night onwards, he would obsess over the blue-haired teen's cuteness, and that made him blush, but point out that it might make Riku jealous. Sora saw this as just another reason to continue on with his obsession and thus ended a night filled with Roxas' twin creeping on his best friend until the wee hours of the morning.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **And that's the chapter, folks~! Trying to get back on track with the powers and everything since I realized I was getting away from that and focusing more on the relationship aspect of the story. But yeah, so Axel can change his body temperature and breathe fire. Hooray! The other powers will come out soon enough, but not too soon because bad stuff about to go down. Aww yeah.

Anyway, more shameless self-advertising: You should go read my 100 theme challenge because I've been working hard on it!

SO yeah, if you loved chapter, hated it, lemme know! Love to hear what you thought if you are willing to share with me =D

Until next time, lovelies~ -lessthanthree-


	23. Naughty Texts are Naughty

**A/N: **Bonjour, bonjour! It has been less than a month. It is a _miracle_. Okay, but yeah.

Thanks to erryone who reviewed and alerted and faved my story and such~! You make me all melty inside (it's actually not even very attractive)~!

Kingdom Hearts © Disney and Enix

* * *

><p>The very next Friday after a week back at school found Sora and Roxas sitting in their living room together watching TV and trying to relax their minds after a harsh reintroduction to waking up early and sitting still for roughly six hours. Their fatigue pushed any homework they had been assigned that weekend to be done at a later date, probably Sunday night. The clock read 4:45PM and neither Cloud nor Tifa had come home from work yet.<p>

Roxas slouched against the couch with Sora's head resting in his lap, completely passed out. The blond had been stroking his twin's hair before he got bored and started texting Axel and Marluxia. Axel had work that evening, Zexion had a date with Demyx, and Naminé, Marluxia, and Larxene were in the mall trying to find lingerie to buy, which meant Roxas likely wouldn't be going anywhere that evening. He didn't particularly mind not having somewhere to be. In fact, it was kind of nice to just relax at home after such a hectic week.

Axel kept sending Roxas dirty texts about dirty things, making him blush every time he received any text at all. He kept sending insults back, but Axel persisted. Oh, lordy, he persisted. He painted naughty pictures of them doing things together and spun erotic tales of the sexcapades they could be partaking in if not for work. Roxas didn't particularly _mind_ it per se, but it _was_ kind of awkward having a boner with Sora sleeping in his lap. He'd originally tried pushing his twin off of him, but the brunet began crying in his sleep and then when Roxas woke him up and asked him to move he cried. Clearly he hadn't realized the blond's predicament.

Somewhat in the same field, Marluxia kept sending Roxas questions about what kind of lingerie he preferred accompanied by pictures of himself, Larxene, and Naminé trying on lacy, revealing undergarments that also made him blush. He wondered briefly why his friends were so focused on sex, and then pondered what it would be like to not be a virgin anymore. None of his friends were virgins and it made him feel inexperienced and childish, especially when they talked about sex so openly. He wished he could join them, in the sense of talking about sex and sexuality, but his closeted status kept him from doing so.

Between texting Marluxia and Axel, watching TV, and trying not to wake Sora with his raging boner, Roxas had a lot on his mind. He wondered what it would be like to be openly gay. He'd pondered over this before, but at the time, he'd been living in Destiny Islands and his friends there didn't care much for sex. All of them were still virgins like him. Plus, even too many 'That's what she said' jokes made Olette angry. She especially didn't like talking about sex. So it hadn't bothered him as much that he was a virgin or that he was in closet. He hadn't even been significantly interested in anyone to consider dating them.

The feeling of obligation he had to come out of the closet in Destiny Islands really hadn't existed, but now it did. Roxas felt a little bad for making Axel keep their relationship a secret, and he wished he could be open about their relationship not just for the redhead's sake, but for his own, too. He wanted people to know that the two of them were off the market. And then there were all the interesting sexual things all his friends talked about. He couldn't participate in many the way he wanted because he felt the need to hide his love of dick.

When Roxas pondered coming out of the closet, the only thing that really scared him were his parents' reactions. Things in the house were already tense because of Tifa's hatred for him. He couldn't imagine how much worse it would be if they knew he was gay, especially considering how uncomfortable they'd gotten while discussing Zexion and Demyx's relationship. Plus, he had a feeling his dad would feel betrayed that Roxas had kept it a secret for so long and pretended to be straight.

If Roxas was in Sora's shoes, he was sure that things would be a bit more in his favor to come out. For one, Tifa loved Sora and would probably love him no matter what. And then there was the fact that Sora was so girly that picturing him even kissing a girl looked wrong. And then Sora had never pretended to be straight, really. Whenever their parents asked him about girls, he always said he wasn't interested in any of them, which was the truth. Unfortunately, Sora was a coward and wouldn't come out. If Sora were to come out, Roxas definitely would as well.

"Mmm, Roxas?" Sora murmured, stirring awake. He yawned and rubbed his eyes.

"Yes, baby Sora?" the blond replied.

Sora rolled over to face Roxas' navel, but quickly sprang away from his brother and sat up. "Oh my god, Roxas! That's so disgusting!" the brunet cried, pointing an accusatory finger at the obvious bulge in Roxas' pants.

Roxas scoffed in reply. "Well, I _tried_ moving you and then I even woke you up, but you started crying." His cheeks felt a little warm. Ahh, nothing like one's twin brother realizing he just shared one's lap with one's own rock hard dick.

"Well, if you just explained yourself, I would've moved! Gosh, that's so _gross_! _I_ didn't _cause_ the boner did I? 'Cause if I did, you're just one sick puppy, okay?"

"I'm not so sure you'd have moved," Roxas waggled his eyebrows at his twin, making the brunet give him a horrified face. "And no, god no, you didn't give it to me." And just then his phone vibrated and suddenly his cheeks felt way too hot.

"Ooh, what's this?" Sora wondered with a giggle. He grabbed his twin's phone from the other side of his legs and was looking at the text he'd received before the blond could do anything. Suddenly, Sora's face transformed from one of conceit to one of complete embarrassment, his cheeks flushing about as red as Roxas'. "Hey, hey, who the hell sent this?" he demanded, tipping off Roxas that it was Axel. "Roxas!" the brunet furiously glared up at his brother, face still red, "you're _sexting Axel_?" he demanded.

Immediately, Roxas went on the defensive. "No! _He's_ sexting _me_! Look at all my responses! I'm just insulting him back!"

"That doesn't change the fact that he made you… _excited_." The brunet spat the word out with absolute distaste.

"Hey, whether you like Axel or not, you gotta admit that he _is_ pretty hot. And he really knows how to paint a naughty picture. Come on, read the texts and tell me they're not arousing."

It was Sora's turn to scoff. "Axel's not _that_ good looking. Riku has him beat by a long shot. And I absolutely _refuse_ to read more! Roxas, I _told_ you to stay away from him and this is why! He just wants to sleep with everything that has a pulse!"

Roxas scoffed once more. He didn't like Sora bashing his boyfriend like this and his protective, defensive instincts began to kick in along with a flare of anger. "I wasn't comparing Riku and Axel. They're both attractive in their own ways. You can't just deny that Axel's fucking hot! There's absolutely no way in hell that anyone in their right mind could classify him as ugly. And what the fuck is your problem with him anyway? What's he ever done to deserve all the shit you give him?"

Instead of just explaining his distaste for Axel, Sora simply pouted somewhat angrily and looked down at his lap. He and the blond knew he didn't have a solid reason to hate the redhead. "Look, I just don't want him to take advantage of you or anything, alright? And maybe he is a _little_ attractive. Not attractive-attractive. But, like, a measly iota of attractive."

The absolutely livid feeling in Roxas' chest was hard to suppress, but he had to if he wanted his and Axel's relationship to remain a secret. The threshold for acceptable anger over someone bashing someone else's significant other greatly surpassed the threshold of acceptable anger over someone bashing someone else's friend and it would look suspicious if Roxas breached the latter border. He took a few silent breaths to calm himself. "Sora, and this is completely hypothetical, alright? Just hear me out, okay?"

Sora looked skeptical about what he was about to hear but nodded.

"What if I had a crush on Axel? Or someone like Axel? What would you do? Remember: hypothetical. I just need to know this," Roxas wondered in as serious and calm voice as he could manage. He really did want to know what kind of reaction to expect when he finally felt ready to announce his and the redhead's relationship. He knew that he'd have to go through it one day, so it was his job to figure out how Sora would respond and then try to get the brunet used to the idea slowly. He had a feeling that if Sora was at least okay with their supposed relationship, then he could come out to his parents with at least his twin to back him up.

All was quiet for a moment as Sora thought this over, looking uneasy. "Well, it's not like I could stop you from dating him. But I would strongly disapprove, and I _really_ hate him. So I would constantly follow and bother you guys and honestly, I'd try my darndest to get between you two. I would try to drive you away from each other. I hate him, Roxas. I wish you could just understand and respect and accept that."

It took everything Roxas had not to scream in absolute rage. "That's fucking bullshit," he grumbled lividly. "I wish you could just understand and respect that he's one of my best friends and maybe if he wanted to have sex, then maybe I'd fuck him and nothing you could ever possibly say would change that. Especially because now I know not to believe anything you say about him."

"I thought you said this was hypothetical, Roxas?" Sora looked worried and a bit concerned as well as scared of his twin's sudden rage.

Roxas took a moment to breathe in. "It _is_ hypothetical; I just hate how you always rag on Axel for absolutely no reason. How would you feel if I just started insulting Riku for no reason?" The blond continued on before Sora could respond. "Riku's such a prissy, spoiled brat. He's not even fucking attractive because he looks completely soulless and he really has no personality. And he's _boring_. His skin is so sickly white and he looks like a fucking robot and—"

"Okay, okay, Roxas!" Sora interrupted. His lips formed a very unpleasant frown and he furrowed his brows somewhat sadly. "I get it! You don't like it when I talk about Axel like that! I'll stop, okay?" He had his hands up in the air defensively, making the blond narrow his eyes at his twin.

"Fine," Roxas muttered.

By dinnertime, which they had earlier than usual that night because Tifa and Cloud wanted to go see a movie, Roxas had completely calmed down and wasn't angry at his twin anymore. He didn't quite know how he felt about the situation, but if he'd gotten Sora to stop badmouthing Axel, then he didn't want to think it over too much. He just hoped Sora wasn't smart enough to piece together that he and Axel had a thing. It didn't really make much sense for Roxas to defend Axel for sending him naughty texts if they _weren't_ dating. So he relied on his twin's cluelessness.

Axel persisted in sending him impish texts, but Roxas couldn't say he minded. He told Axel to stop for a while so that he wouldn't get any indecent texts while having dinner with his family. He didn't want to have to pull an explanation out of his ass as to why Axel would be texting him such things. He did forget, however, to tell Marluxia to stop sending texts of himself, Larxene, and Naminé trying on various pieces of lingerie. So, while eating dinner with his family, his phone vibrated.

Sora was telling a story about practice or something, but Roxas hadn't been paying attention because he'd been thinking about his boyfriend. Tifa and Cloud also seemed to have other things on their minds, so they simply responded to Sora when necessary to keep him talking. Neither of them particularly minded when Roxas went to check the message he'd received.

When Roxas unlocked his phone and then opened the text, the noise that came out of his mouth was not human and his face flushed bright red when he saw Marluxia, Larxene, and Naminé posing in very… alluring lingerie that left little to the imagination. In his surprise he dropped his phone onto the table beside his plate. Though the noise he'd made hadn't been very loud, his phone hitting the table had been, and his parents and twin immediately looked at him curiously. "Um, it's nothing!" Roxas hastily assured before anyone could say anything.

Sora's eye caught the picture and he swiped the phone up before Roxas could grab it again. Immediately his face flushed bright red. "Oh my _gosh_, Roxas! What even is this? Is this," Sora paused for a moment to blush deeper, "is this Marluxia, Larxene, and Naminé? _Why are they sexting_ you?"

Tifa and Cloud looked very alarmed upon hearing this.

"I don't even know, okay? They just started sending me those pictures!" Roxas replied. He didn't mention that they were asking for feedback, and the little tidbit at the end of the text saying 'Like what you see? ;)' probably didn't help Roxas' case.

"Oh gosh, Larxene has a body like _that_?" Sora couldn't possibly have grown any redder.

"Wait, wait, what exactly is 'sexting'?" Tifa demanded, looking somewhat outraged, but mostly confused.

"It's when you send naughty stuff to someone through text, and this is a _very_ naughty picture!" Sora seemed to calm down for a moment. "But Zexion was right, Naminé is flat as a board," he added offhandedly. "And Marluxia has a pretty nice package." In response to the disgusted and confused look on Roxas' face, Sora quickly said, "I'm around packages pretty much every day at practice, so I think I'm very qualified to point out a nice one!"

"Wait, so, three of your friends, two of them being girls, sent you _nude photos_ of themselves?" Cloud demanded.

"They're not nude! They're wearing lingerie! And I'm gonna delete them, of course!" Roxas assured him. "And Sora, give it back! You're gonna pop a blood vessel if you blush any more!" He leaned over the table and snatched away his phone.

"Roxas Strife, you delete those pictures _immediately_!" Tifa commanded him. "You simply can't have naked pictures on your phone!"

"I'm deleting them now! Look!" And Roxas held out the phone for her to see the little animation when he deleted texts play. What he didn't tell her was that he saved the pictures to his phone before doing so. He didn't exactly care of Larxene or Naminé in lingerie, but as Sora had pointed out, Marluxia had a _very_ nice package. And muscles. And Roxas dug those things.

After appeasing his parents by deleting the texts, they proceeded to give Roxas a lecture about being safe through text messages and things of that nature. Instead of paying attention, the blond spaced out and thought about how fun it could be to have a threesome with Marluxia and Axel. He began to consider how that would really play out and had a hard time picturing Marluxia and Axel together and both naked. Plus, Axel was far too possessive to even think of letting the pinkette touch him. Roxas felt that the scenario had a chance, however, after he and Axel had had sex a few times. And by that point, his parents had stopped talking and Roxas simply nodded his head in agreement.

* * *

><p>A few hours later found Roxas reclining on his bed and thinking about the weird texts he'd been receiving that day. Perhaps it was his fatigue putting him in a daze, but the blond simply couldn't get out of his thoughts. Axel floated around in his mind and the texts they'd been sending back and forth. He wondered about sex and about the three<br>"girls."

Sora was staring at himself in their mirror, picking at his clothes, poking at his skin, pulling at his hair. One would be hard pressed to determine whether what Sora saw pleased or displeased him. He seemed to be in a fog, too.

"Hey, Sora, do you ever wonder if Riku thinks of you when he masturbates?" the blond twin wondered suddenly.

"Huh?" Sora didn't turn around.

"I said, do you ever wonder if Riku thinks about you when he masturbates," Roxas repeated.

Immediately, the brunet spun around to face the blond. His cheeks burned. "What? Why the heck are you asking _that_?" he demanded.

A shrug. "Come on, bro, honesty."

"Well," Sora clasped his hands together behind his back and looked at the floor, "I honestly don't know if he _does_, but I do think about it sometimes, I guess…" He was twirling a chocolate lock very delicately.

"Is that creepy—do you think?—or flattering? If he does, I mean. Would you think it was creepy if he did?"

Before the blond twin even finished talking, Sora shook his head vigorously. "Oh, no, no, no, Roxas! I think it's flattering! I think of _him_ when _I_ masturbate, so…" And then Sora stopped himself to slap his hands over his mouth, face completely red.

"You masturbate, Sora?" Roxas wondered incredulously. If he sounded sarcastic, he didn't mean to. He honestly didn't think Sora even knew what masturbation was or how to do it. "I really can't picture that."

The brunet looked slightly offended by that. "I'm a guy, too, Roxas. I have needs, too, you know! And it's good that you _can't_ picture it, because that'd be weird!" Sora crossed his arms angrily. "And I'll have you know that I am a perfectly normal and healthy gay male! Of _course_ I masturbate! It's difficult to do it as much as I used to, though, since we share a room now and all."

"Okay, then, I have a question. How do you not get boners when you see Riku at practice? Not even just him, either. The guys on the swim team are definitely not bad looking, and they have nice bodies. And if you do get boners, what do you do to hide it?"

"Where in the world are these questions coming from, you weirdo?"

Roxas shrugged, but waited for a response.

A sigh left Sora's lips and he sort of shrugged. "Well, it's not like it doesn't happen every once in a while. It's not very common, though, 'cause usually the water's cold and everything kind of shrinks. But if you _do_ get one, there's not much that can really hide it. People usually don't say anything about it. Plus, for me, when I'm swimming, I typically don't really look at bodies. They're not really sexualized or anything for me when I'm at practice or a meet. I'm usually too focused to even think about it."

"Oh, I guess that makes sense."

And then everything fell quiet. Sora turned back to the mirror and Roxas turned back to his phone. He texted Axel saying that he could continue with the inappropriately delicious messages and sent a text to Marluxia explaining what'd happened at the dinner table. Roxas spaced out as he texted his two friends, so when Sora leapt on top of him, he was startled.

Before Roxas could say a word, Sora's nose and his were touching and the brunet gazed into his eyes gleefully.

"Hey, Roxy, wanna go to Riku's house? It's, like, 6 o'clock on a Friday night and we have nothing else to do, so yeah, wanna go with me?" the brunet inquired enthusiastically. "Oh, and before you ask why I'm asking, it's because the triplets are still at home and I thought hanging out with the Gallagher brothers might be interesting. I promise that me and Riku will protect you from Kadaj!"

Roxas took a moment to think this over before shrugging. Sora was right; he had nothing better to do. "Alright, I'll go. Is he gonna come pick us up?"

"Nah," Sora shook his head before climbing off his twin and returning to the mirror, "he said he wants to take a shower before we get there, so I was thinking I could drive us there. Mom and Dad left Mom's keys for us, you know, so why not?"

Aside from the occasional jerky stop, Sora was a pretty good driver.

"Okay, when do you wanna leave?"

"Now would be good. We'll probably get there right before he finishes, so yeah, let's _go_!" Sora finally finished playing with his hair when he was satisfied, slipped his phone into his pocket, and sauntered out the door behind his more subdued twin.

"Buckle up!" Sora instructed the blond in an eerily cheerful singsong voice once they were seated in their mother's car. Roxas scoffed and rolled his eyes, making the brunet give him a stern look. "Click it or tick it, Roxy."

Reluctantly, Roxas buckled his seatbelt. He would've buckled it anyway, but Sora telling him to do so made him not want to. Of course, he preferred to listen to his brother than to end up wrapped around a pole with his feet conveniently located in his face. No disfiguration for him, thank you.

Sora pulled out of the driveway and they were on their way to the Gallagher mansion. "So, Rox, are you excited to see Kadaj again? I know he came on a little strong on Thanksgiving, but still." He grinned over at his twin for a second before returning his eyes to the road.

Roxas shrugged. "Well, he's hot, I guess, but I don't really think I'm that interested in him. I'm actually kinda surprised that you still seem to like him even though he attacked me."

"Roxas, he's _hot_. Not just hot, but like hot, hot, hot, _hot_! If I wasn't so into Riku, I'd probably be all over him. And think about it, if I get my fairytale ending and marry Riku and then you marry Kadaj, then we'd be brothers by marriage in addition to being related biologically!" The brunet explained with a bright smile on his face. "Plus, I know he _likes you_!" Sora sang. He jabbed Roxas in the side as they slowed to a stop at a stop sign.

Roxas scoffed and smacked Sora's hand away. "Sorry, I'm just not into him, I guess. He _is_ hot, and there's a high chance that if he asked me for a blowjob, I'd give him one, but I don't really think we have that kind of chemistry." The blond paused for a moment before continuing. "But _he_ thinks we do. He asked me out on a date the day after Thanksgiving."

"Really? Did you go out with him?" the brunet wondered.

Roxas shook his head.

"Oh yeah, by the way, what _did_ you do that day? You're such a liar! I know you didn't leave to 'watch the sunrise' so what did you do?" Sora demanded, obviously feeling entitled to the information since he'd covered for his twin like a good brother should.

The blond didn't really want to think of a lie to tell his brother because, really, there was no excuse to leave in the middle of the night without having mentioned it beforehand. He feared what Sora would do if he knew the truth, so he didn't want to tell him that, either. "Can we not talk about it?" And then he turned on the radio and began to search through the stations to find a suitable song to drown Sora out.

"Tell me, Roxas! I didn't tell Mom or Dad or anything and you owe me _something_!" Sora persisted.

"Booty call," the other twin responded jokingly. At that point, he found a song Sora would like to listen to and turned up the volume in the hopes that he'd just give up and enjoy the song. "Sora, tell me who says you're not perfect? Who says you're not worth it? Who says you're the only one that's hurting?" Roxas began to sing along.

Sora jabbed him in the side with his fist, but smiled.

The blond tried not to laugh as he continued. "Trust me, that's the price of beauty. Who says you're not pretty? Who says you're not beautiful?"

Sora giggled as Roxas turned up the radio further and continued to dance and sing in the car. The brunet laughed as his twin serenaded him and joined in, though his singing sounded more like saying the words to the rhythm. Still, they had a wondrous time on their way to Riku's house, and Roxas could confidently say that he was actually looking forward to this.

Despite the fact that Roxas normally hated social gatherings, especially ones that his friends wouldn't be attending, the idea of seeing the triplets again made him smile. He knew they would fawn over him again and that Kadaj would likely go too far, but it promised to be exciting anyway. He wondered if maybe they would try raping him again, because if they did, Zexion wasn't gonna be there to save Roxas. Neither was Axel, but the bluenette had proved to be more able to protect him from attack than the redhead.

As they passed through an intersection, a very significant feeling of foreboding and wrongness entered Roxas' system. Before he could do or say anything, though, he heard the deafening sound of metal on metal and suddenly, the world around began to spin in slow motion. He didn't know what was going on as everything suddenly spiraled out of control. A scream filled the air and the blond couldn't for the life of him tell whether it was him or Sora. And then he saw the traffic light pole.

Then everything went dark.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **Erryone wants to kill me right now. I can feel it. _I have a reason_! See, I've had this part planned out for a while and I wrote the crash as well as the aftermath of the crash a while ago to see how much space it would take up and it turned out to surpass the 4k word minimum I usually shoot for when writing chapters, but I still had to connect the two chapters and I figured the aftermath of the crash would be more interesting and should take up an entire chapter. I didn't want to make this a cliffhanger originally, but it just works better, especially since I've gotten some requests to make the chapters shorter and more frequent.

There is a plus side to this situation, though. The chapter after this one is pretty much all written out. So I'll prolly put that up in a week or two. Huzzah!

If you love me and want to support me and or if you hate me and want to tear me down, you should, like, leave a review~! They assure Sora that he _is_ perfect and he _is_ worth it. And that he is also beautiful.

But srsly, love all your faces, like, seriously _omguh I love'em_~!

Byeeeee~ -less than three-


	24. Cough Syrup

**A/N: **Yo, yo, yooo! So we all know I lied. A little bit. I was like "YES THIS WILL BE SO FAST TO UPDATE" but then writer's block was like "Luuuulz no!" But yeah. I'm gonna try to get rid of that. Anyway. Just a forewarning, there is a butt-ton of foreshadowing in this chapter. Like, only two things, and one isn't really emphasized that much, but the other is. Sadly, the thing that _is_ emphasized will be harder to guess what it will lead to. I thought I'd leave that here at the opening statement so that you can search through and see if you can spot it.

Anyway, thanks to everyone who reviewed and alerted and faved~! I think my heart got close to exploding because of all the love? Yeah, I was practically hyperventilating. But yeah. Thanks. Like a lot.

So yeah, enjoy the chapter~

Kingdom Hearts © Disney and Enix

* * *

><p>When Roxas first tried opening his eyes, the world was too bright around him and his heavy, encrusted eyes hindered his ability and held him back. Slowly, feeling tingled to life in his body and began to slither within his form as he lay there trying to deal with the fact that he couldn't open his eyes yet. He became oddly aware of his fingertips, them being the first parts of his body he could consciously feel. They prickled somewhat uncomfortably, but wanting to savor in that feeling, he wiggled them a bit until the sensation crawled up his arm and settled in his chest. From there, it took two paths, one traveling down his legs slowly to his knees and finally to his toes and the other climbing slowly up his neck and into his face and head. It took a moment after the simple sensation of existing returned for the pain to set in.<p>

His neck felt extremely stiff and generally uncomfortable, as if he'd slept wrong on it for a week and now had the biggest crick in his neck that he'd ever experienced. Unfortunately for Roxas, his back felt just as horrible. Honestly, he felt like a piano whose inner steel strings had all been cut and sprung out of whack.

Finally, Roxas decided to try to open his eyes again. The light hurt, but not as badly as it had the first time. Slowly, his eyes grew used to the light and absorbed more of his surroundings. Suddenly, he realized not only was his neck super stiff, he also couldn't move it at all. Immediately, his hand traveled up his chest to paw at his neck, but found that a soft collar impeded his movement. Quickly, he assessed his surroundings and current status and came to the conclusion that he was lying in a hospital bed.

The white walls and floors and the smell of antiseptic gave away his location before the presence of the many medical apparatuses surrounding him on counters and tables in the small room. When he tried to sit up, he realized that he'd forgotten the clenching pain in his back and he really couldn't sit up without flopping down. Luckily, a nurse was suddenly at his side helping him lay back down without hurting himself.

Roxas almost forgot he had a mouth for a second, but when he remembered, he realized how dry and arid it felt. "What happened?" he croaked out through his desert lips. He had no idea why he was in the hospital.

A cup of water touched his lips and was gone in an instant, though it barely satisfied his thirst.

"Oh, you poor thing!" the nurse murmured. "Are you well enough to talk? Do you need any more water?"

Roxas just nodded as best he could with the brace, even though it hurt, and more water was at his lips. This time, when he finished the cool water, the saliva production in his system continued and his voice felt stronger when he replied, "I can talk."

"Alright, I'm gonna need you to answer a few questions, alright?" the nurse explained to him. He noticed then that she was sitting next to his bed. She had a sweet face complete with plump, rosy cheeks and a kind smile.

"Okay," the blond responded, though he still wasn't completely certain of how he'd gotten here.

"What's your first name?" she asked.

"Roxas." That much he knew.

"Last name?"

"Strife."

"Parents' names?"

"Tifa and Cloud Strife."

"Any siblings?"

"I have a twin brother named Sor—" And suddenly it hit Roxas like a ton of bricks. He remembered being in the car laughing and singing with his brother and then spinning and then the light post. And that was it. Suddenly, his heart began to hammer away at his chest and hysteria entered his bloodstream like poison. He shot up into a sitting position (regretted it when he felt a sharp burst of pain in his neck and back) and grabbed the nurse's shoulders, making her flinch. "Holy shit, is Sora okay? What about the car? What happened? Is he gonna get his license revoked?" The questions flew from his mouth a mile a minute.

"Whoa, whoa, relax, Roxas!" The nurse urged him, slowly pushing him to lie back down. "I'll send your parents in. There's a cop with them, and he'll be asking you questions about the collision. I'm sure he's asked others about the accident, so he can tell you what exactly happened and is going to happen."

"My parents are here?" the blond wondered. "How long have I been out?"

The nurse smiled warmly. "Yes, your parents as well as a friend, I believe. I didn't catch his name but his hair is blue. And you've been unconscious for about an hour and a half. Now, I'll go get your parents, and your friend if you're up for it."

Roxas nodded awkwardly again, and when a shot of pain ebbed through his neck, he decide he really needed to stop doing that. Having Zexion here would probably calm him more than his parents could. He could only imagine how enraged and worried Tifa would be that Sora got hurt and that the car probably didn't look so good. Then again, Roxas didn't know how bad the crash had been. "Yeah, you can send him in, too."

She exited the room and not two seconds later, Cloud had shoved his way into the room, worry apparent on his face. Tifa followed behind, also looking worried and somewhat pissed. Zexion came next, looking almost as concerned as Cloud. Lastly, a tall, burly man with short hair entered the room.

"Roxas," Cloud murmured as he approached the hospital bed. He leaned down and ran his fingers gently through his son's hair before giving him a quick, gentle kiss on the forehead. "I'm glad you're okay, kiddo."

The blond smiled at his father's display. Roxas savored this rare and much wanted solicitude from his normally-reserved father. "Me too," he mumbled back.

Zexion quickly went to the opposite side of the room and gathered three chairs for them all to use. He brought them over, placing two on one side for Tifa and Cloud and the third on the opposite side of the bed for himself. They all took a seat as the police officer pulled out a notepad.

"Alright, kid, I'll make this quick so you can talk to your family and everything. Now, tell me everything you can remember about the crash," the officer commanded in a gentle tone.

"Well," Roxas paused for a moment to gather his thoughts and string some words together, "I remember me and Sora were on our way to our friend's house and Sora was driving and we were going through an intersection. I'm almost 100% sure that the light was green when we went through it. Suddenly, there was this sickening sound; metal on metal, you know? It was so deafeningly loud and then I remember everything just spinning and someone screamed. I couldn't tell you who, but someone screamed and then I saw the pole for the traffic light, you know? And I don't remember anything after that."

Some time when he'd been talking, Zexion had gently grabbed one of his hands and was now rubbing it soothingly with his thumb.

Roxas paused for a moment to smile gently at Zexion, who returned the smile. Then he looked back at the police officer. "So, what exactly happened?"

The officer was still jotting things down on his little notepad as he answered. "Well, you were right, the light was green. This guy in the lane going west straight across through your southern path was piss drunk and barreled through the light at around 60mph. You're lucky because he just clipped the bumper of your car and sent you spinning. If he had hit your car straight on, your brother probably would have died and you'd be in much worse shape."

"Is Sora okay?" the blond worriedly asked. Really, he could not have cared less about himself if he tried. He only wanted to be sure Sora would live. And if so, then he would be okay with dying.

"Well, I'm not entirely certain; I just got here from the scene." He turned to the Strife parents. "Your car was insured, right? And your sons have medical insurance?" he asked offhandedly.

"Yes, everything is insured," Tifa answered, her voice sounding somewhat shaky. She seemed much more disconnected to the scene than Cloud, as if she didn't know for sure if this was actually happening or if it was just a nightmare. Roxas couldn't remember a time when her voice sounded so uncharacteristically soft or vulnerable.

"Alright, then, Roxas, I have some questions for you. Had you or your brother been drinking before the accident?"

The question shocked Roxas a little bit. "No way, Sora would never even touch alcohol."

"And yourself?"

"No, I hadn't been drinking."

"What about texting? Had your brother been texting while driving at all?"

And then more questions followed that would incriminate the twins if the answers had been yes. All the answers were no, of course, but they had sort of rattled the blond to even think of what could've happened if they had done any of the things the officer asked about. And his worry for Sora began eating at the back of his mind. He had assumed by now that his wounds weren't fatal based on everyone's somewhat contained worry. If Sora had been fatally injured, he doubted his parents and Zexion, especially Tifa, would be so relaxed, albeit concerned.

The officer left and not a minute later, Axel came racing into the room, looking very anxious. When his eyes fell on Roxas, the blond's heart practically broke at the forlorn expression on the redhead's face. _'Oh god, Roxas…' _The redhead was clad in a button-up shirt, black khakis, a dark green smock and a nametag on his shirt that read 'Axel' in all capital letters. All this and the fact that his hair was pulled back into a ponytail informed Roxas that the redhead had probably just come running from work.

"Roxas, hey," the redhead said through his quick breaths. "Hello Mr. and Mrs. Strife," he added as he glanced at them for a moment.

No one replied verbally, but there were lots of things running through Roxas' head that he wanted to say to put the redhead at ease. More than anything, he wanted to curl up against his boyfriend's ridiculously warm chest and sleep until everything was okay again and he didn't feel like shit. "Axel did you just come from work?" the blond wondered as the redhead went and fetched the last free chair in the room and moved it next to Zexion's.

"Yeah. Zexion texted me, so I split and came as quickly as I could," the redhead informed him. _'Don't worry about that, Roxas.'_

Roxas found it a little odd, but not entirely unenjoyable, that the redhead had spoken to him through his thoughts. He wondered vaguely if the redhead had done it on purpose. Even though he wanted to keep talking to Axel, the blond's curiosity about Sora's state got the better of him. "Mom, Dad, do you know if Sora is okay?"

Tifa gave a strained smile and for some reason, it brought some sort of solace to the blond. "Yeah, he's alright. The doctor told us both his legs were broken, but they were fairly clean breaks, so they'll heal up fine. He's still unconscious right now, and they're probably putting casts on his legs as we speak."

"He'll be stuck in a wheel chair for a while," Cloud added.

A feeling of intense guilt washed over Roxas. Maybe if he hadn't been distracting Sora, he'd have noticed the car barreling through the intersection. Maybe then Sora's legs wouldn't be broken. Maybe then his parents wouldn't have to go through this. He could tell that even though they were both okay, his parents were rattled. And now they had to think about representing their case in court and whether the driver's insurance would pay for their car and how much and whether their own insurance company would cover any as well. Not to mention, in the meantime, they would only have one car unless they received a rental. And then there was the medical insurance. If they'd come in ambulances, then they'd have to find a way to pay for that, too, and ambulances were expensive. And Roxas felt that, even though he didn't know exactly how things would be paid for and by whom, he'd just sentenced his family to years of debt when they'd just started making decent money.

Zexion released Roxas' hand and went to stroke the blond's hair soothingly.

Axel took up the injured boy's hand and sent heat through his appendage, relaxing him. The redhead pulled out his phone for a moment with his free hand and then smiled up at Roxas. "Don't you worry, Roxy! Papa, Mama, and Naminé are on their way and they'll be sure to take care of you."

Roxas chuckled and decided to wallow in self-hatred later. For now, he had his family and two wonderful friends with him. "Axel, take your hair out of that ponytail. You look like a pretentious douchebag."

Axel snorted in contempt but obeyed Roxas anyway. He removed the band from his hair as well as his nametag and smock. "Is this better, Roxas? Does this please you? Because you know that's what I live for each and every day; to make you happy."

The blond laughed and smiled stupidly. "Why, yes, it does please me. You're such a good doggy, Axel. Good booooy!" he cooed to his secret boyfriend. "Come here, doggy, doggy," Roxas commanded, holding out his other hand and gesturing for the redhead to come closer.

Indignantly, the redhead rolled his eyes and quirked a brow, but listened all the same. He leaned in closer until Roxas could pat his head._ 'You so totally owe me for this, princess.'_ "Don't expect my tolerance of this treatment to continue. This is a one-time deal, kid," he grumbled.

Unfortunately for Roxas, his lips tingled with the desire to kiss Axel. He took a quick look at his parents to see if there was even the slightest bit of hope that he could sneak a kiss in. Sadly, Cloud watched them intently. _'I hope Roxas didn't forget about Axel's feelings for him. He's being pretty inconsiderate right now.'_ And that stomped out any hopes he had of kissing his lovely other half.

Suddenly, the door burst open and Marluxia sauntered in with Naminé and Larxene at his heels. "Oh, my poor baby!" the pinkette said with a gasp when he laid eyes on Roxas. "Naminé, Larxene, be a couple of dears and retrieve some chairs for the three of us, won't you?" he ordered the blonde girls. Then he turned around and approached the blond's bed. "Baby, where does it hurt?" he asked, leaning down between Cloud and Tifa to gaze into Roxas' eyes.

If Roxas could see anything beyond Marluxia's face, he would've noticed Axel's jealousy come to life in a second. "It hurts everywhere, Papa. I'm dying," the blond whined.

"Oh, well in that case, I'll just have to kiss you everywhere." Immediately after saying it, Marluxia cried out and immediately pulled away, holding his hair delicately.

"Ha, ha, very funny, MarMar," Axel growled, crossing his arms like a child whose toy race car had just been stolen by another youth.

"Oh, Axel you're simply no fun!" Marluxia said with a pout. "Can't you see the poor dear needs some TLC? Papa Marly is here to bring the smiles and the affection."

"Excuse me, Mr. 'MarMar' but I doubt kisses would heal Roxas," Cloud interrupted. Though his tone was serious, he was grinning as he said it.

Marluxia rolled his eyes and flapped a hand elegantly at the older blond, physically trivializing his point. "Oh, Mr. Strife, you wouldn't understand a father's duties! Only a real dad would realize that kisses make everything better." He smiled coyly at the man.

"Marluxia, here are your motherfucking chairs," Larxene grumbled as she entered the room with a chair in each arm. Naminé filed in after her, carrying a single chair. The further surrounded the bed with the chairs and sat next to their friend.

"Excellent, thank you ladies," the pinkette practically purred.

The door opened once more to reveal Riku, panting much like Axel had been. The group all welcomed him in, though Roxas could tell he was really only here for Sora. Axel welcomed the silverette to sit in his lap and try to relax a little, and, surprisingly, he accepted the invitation. He sat in the redhead's lap, and Axel held him and ran a hand through his silver hair.

A doctor came in a few minutes of fraternizing later, and was shocked to see so many people visiting Roxas at the same time. "Excuse me, but I'm going to have to ask a few of you to leave. This hospital only allows four guests at a time," she instructed, tapping the clipboard in her hand with a pen impatiently.

Before anyone could move, Marluxia got up out of his seat and took the doctor's chin into his hand, tilting her head back so that she would meet his gaze. "But doctor, he's my beloved child! And the last time I checked, family was allowed to visit family in the hospital. And they're all my children and brothers and sisters! Couldn't you make an exception just once? Please?" He batted his eyelashes at the doctor.

"Ahem," the doctor cleared her throat as she blushed. "Fine, I suppose I can make an exception just this once. But please do try to keep it down when I'm talking to the patient and his real parents."

Satisfied, Marluxia sat back down amidst surprised gazes from Roxas and his parents. They'd never seen someone charm someone else like that in real life before.

"Well," the doctor began, "Sora looks okay. His legs are in a cast and he's perfectly fine otherwise. He'll probably be in pain for a few days, so I'll prescribe him some Vicodin. Make absolutely sure he doesn't take more than the prescription calls for. Vicodin can be extremely addictive."

"Don't worry, we've been through this before," Cloud assured her.

She smiled at him before continuing. "And you, Roxas, are in almost perfect condition. Your back and neck will probably be sore for about a week or two as a result of whiplash, so we put a soft collar on you. It'll probably get worse before it gets better, and don't be surprised if it's still sore even after a couple of months. If you find yourself getting dizziness or headaches, you may want to consider physical therapy. I'll prescribe some muscle relaxers, which should expedite the healing process. Since it's late, it would be best for you to stay the night here, but if you don't want to, you're free to go. Honestly, though, you and your brother were extremely lucky that you both were wearing seatbelts and that the airbags deployed. Wish I could say the same for the sucker that decided to drink and drive," she added thoughtfully.

"Why, what happened to him?" Roxas couldn't keep himself from asking. He knew the answer would make him feel even worse than he already did, but he couldn't help himself. He felt obligated to know.

The doctor took a moment to look down at her clipboard before sighing. "His condition is… less than perfect, I suppose. I don't want to scare you with all the medical terminology or anything, but in short, he might die," she replied.

Roxas felt his heart plummet twelve feet and his face grew cold. Suddenly, he grew very aware of the little threads beginning to fray at the seams on the underside of his blanket pressing against his toes. His hand felt warmer and he glanced over at Axel, who managed to pull out the most empathetic of faces from the arsenal of expressions Roxas didn't even know he possessed. While it comforted him to a degree, it also made him want to bury his face into the redhead's chest and cry his eyes out.

"Well, I'll leave you with your friends and family. If you need anything, be sure to call a nurse in here." She then gave Marluxia a pointed gaze. "And if I get any complaints from other patients about noise, I'm gonna have to ask some of you to leave." And with that, she turned on her heel and left.

The Strife parents glanced at each other for a moment, having a silent conversation. When they looked back at Roxas, Cloud smiled softly as Tifa began to stand from her seat. "Alright, Rox, we're gonna go walk around, maybe get something to eat. We'll bring you back something if we do so you'll have something aside from hospital food." Cloud gave his son's hand one final squeeze before joining his wife and exiting the room.

The seven friends sat there, talking and joking and trying to keep morale up, especially since no one was badly hurt. Riku fit in with the group quite well, Roxas noticed. He also noticed Axel's free traveling up and down the silverette's back underneath his shirt. And then he felt more like shit than he had previously and while he normally would want to flip tables and scream at the redhead, in his current state, he just wanted to crawl into a hole and die. And he even felt scared that maybe Axel liked Riku better than him. The look of tranquility on the silverette's face did nothing to quell this fear.

"Naminé, where's Demyx? Shouldn't he be here?" Zexion wondered, allowing Roxas to distract his mind from his sudden bout of inferiority.

Naminé immediately looked uncomfortable. '_Oh, Zexion, why would you put me in this position?_' "Oh, I don't know. I haven't really talked to him much today." '_Yes, I do know where he is. Just leave it at that, please._'

The bluenette didn't seem bothered to hear this, but it made Roxas want him to be. Why would Naminé lie? Zexion pulled out his cell phone, which made the blonde immediately ask, "What are you doing?" '_No, please no_.'

"I was gonna call Demyx. We're all here already. He should be, too," the bookworm replied, regarding his friend strangely.

"No, don't do that!" She blurted out before realizing how strangely she was acting. '_Aw shit, no, fuck no._'

Before Zexion could even question this, Marluxia butted in. "I think what she means is he won't be able to answer your call."

Axel quickly excused himself from the conversation by starting a side discussion with Riku, and Larxene was looking at Naminé with pitying eyes. Roxas felt about as left out as Zexion probably did now that he knew something out of the ordinary was going on.

"I thought you didn't know where he was," he pointed out.

"Yeah, but he might be in an area without phone service and really, just don't call him. I already sent him a text earlier, as I'm sure you did, too, so he'll just get here when he gets here, okay?" '_Zexion, this is for your own good. I know it would crush you if you knew what Demyx was doing_.'

Though he seemed extremely annoyed by the situation, the bluenette realized he wouldn't be getting information out of her. '_What could Demyx possibly be doing? He wouldn't be cheating on me… or anything, would he?_' His face faltered for a moment, looking absolutely worried before returning to irritated a fraction of a second later. But Roxas had seen it.

"Fine," Zexion said. "Don't tell me."

Marluxia awkwardly changed the subject and managed to start a successful conversation with everyone, smoothing over the little rough patch. Well, everyone except Axel and Riku.

Axel was whispering things to Riku, who would then whisper things back to Axel. The redhead seemed to be putting the silverette at ease with whatever he was saying, for Riku looked more relaxed as they spoke.

Feeling somewhat neglected, Roxas squeezed Axel's hand much harder to the point of causing the redhead to exclaim "Ow!" He didn't necessarily want to hurt his boyfriend, but he wanted to subtly get his attention. When the redhead looked at him questioningly, Roxas really wished that Axel could read minds because this would've been a whole lot easier, especially with everyone else in the room. He simply shrugged and turned his attention to Marluxia, Larxene, Naminé, and Zexion's conversation

About an hour later, Demyx finally showed up with a guitar case in hand. Everyone welcomed him heartily, save for Zexion, who seemed a little uncomfortable and uncertain. The sandy blond didn't take notice of this and, thus, appeared very comfortable. He even went over to Zexion's seat and asked if the bluenette would like to sit in his lap after resting the guitar against the wall next to his boyfriend. Everyone watched curiously as the bookworm stood to let the sandy blond sit down in his seat and then pull his boyfriend into his lap and cuddle him with an overjoyed smile on his face. The doubts Zexion had been having earlier seemed to fade completely as he smiled at Demyx's affection.

The Strife parents returned after that, bearing food for everyone, save for Demyx, since they hadn't known he would be coming, but luckily Zexion decided to share with him.

A knock at the door sounded 30 minutes later, and upon encouragement to enter the room, a nurse appeared in the doorway pushing a cheerful, yet somewhat tired-looking Sora in a wheelchair. His face first brightened upon seeing the crowd there to visit Roxas, and then darkened considerably for barely a second when he saw Riku sitting in Axel's lap in the middle of whispering something to the redhead.

The silverette shot up from Axel's lap, looking very guilty as he glanced over at Sora. His face crumbled at the sight of the brunet in a wheel chair. '_Oh, Sora…_' He shifted uncomfortably where he stood and Roxas wanted to punch him in the face. How could Riku have chosen to sit in Axel's lap and whisper god knows what to each other, make Roxas question his relationship with aforementioned redhead, and then act all guilty the moment Sora walked in? He obviously knew he had done something wrong. Sure, he probably didn't know that Roxas and Axel were in a relationship, but if he really did like Sora then why would he put himself in that situation?

"Hey, guys! The nurse told me about the little party you guys were havin' over here so I wanted to come have fun, too!" Sora said cheerfully, choosing not to mention anything about Riku sitting in Axel's lap. He certainly thought about it, though. '_So he __**is**__ gay but he likes Axel after all? God, why does he have to look all guilty like that? It's almost like he __**does**__ like me…_'

They welcomed him in and allowed the brunet to sit at the foot of the bed so that he could face Roxas. Tifa looked noticeably relaxed and relieved, probably because Sora seemed relatively normal aside from his wheel chair and the casts on his legs. Honestly, Roxas didn't know if Sora was just putting on a strong face so everyone could relax, but he was glad all the same. It certainly calmed him down.

"Hey, Rox, remember back in Destiny Islands when that rumor went around that we were actually half-brothers because Dad got a prostitute pregnant with you and then tried to sell you for drugs and then he decided to take you in?" Sora wondered with a grin on his face. Everyone seemed interested in the twins' interaction, so they all listened curiously.

Roxas recalled that rumor very well. It started up out of nowhere and spread like wildfire. Absolutely everyone knew about the rumor within a couple days' time and the majority of his peers tormented him. "Oh god, yeah. That was absolutely _terrible_." Roxas scowled at the memory of everyone calling him a bastard child and the looks in their eyes that told the blond that they were better than him, even though it wasn't true.

"Well, I started that rumor," Sora admitted with a nostalgic smile on his face.

"What the hell?" Roxas demanded. "Why would you do that, Sora? Do you know how many people harassed me after that? I got thrown into trash cans at least twice as much as I normally did and almost every time it happened, they'd always go 'Oh, we were just taking out the trash.' Why would you even do that?"

Sora smiled somewhat bitterly at hearing how Roxas had gotten bullied. He always hated thinking about that. "I know. I started the rumor 'cause I was jealous of you."

Roxas didn't know how to respond to that. Sora had always had more friends than him. He was more popular and (in Roxas' opinion) better looking and more charismatic and friendlier and just generally better than Roxas. "Uh… why?"

"That was just after you started dating Xion, remember? I was jealous 'cause you had a girlfriend and you were such a cute couple."

"Why would you be jealous? Girls would practically wet their pants for you, Sora. Or do not remember how everyone called you Casanova or heartbreaker?" Roxas pointed out.

"Well, yeah," Sora responded, "but Xion was cute. I liked Xion." '_Plus, she's the only girl that maybe I could've have feelings for_.' "Anyway, since we're talking about Destiny Islands, do you remember when we first got our licenses?" Sora wondered, holding the blond's gaze.

Roxas grinned at his twin. "Yeah, I remember."

"Well, remember how we promised each other that the first one to get into a car crash would get a song from the other?"

"Yeah."

"Well, I would like my song now. With musical accompaniment, if you don't mind, Demyx," Sora requested with a smile. His face looked so genuine and pleading that Roxas wanted to give his twin the world, yet at the same time his neck and back still hurt like hell.

"Sure, if I know the song!" The sandy blond chirped. He ushered Zexion out of his lap and then stood up to retrieve his guitar from the case while his blue-haired boyfriend sat back down.

"Sora, I don't really—"

"It would make me feel better!" Sora interrupted, knowing Roxas didn't really want to sing at the moment. He put on his best puppy dog pout and batted his eyelashes pathetically. "Please, Roxy? Don't you want me to feel better?"

His brother's wheelchair seemed to mock him and he gave a sigh. "Fine," he admitted defeat. "But only because I remember the words." To Demyx, he said, "Cough Syrup by Young the Giant."

"Sweet, I totally know that song! That's Riku's favorite song, right Riku?" he said, glancing over at the silverette as he fiddled with the tuning pegs.

Riku had to smile at that and then at Sora. "Yeah, it is."

Sora positively _beamed_ up at Riku. And with that, all thoughts of Riku liking someone else vanished from Sora's forehead. '_Oh god, Riku can we please just make out? We're obviously perfect for each other._' "That's actually my favorite song of all time. It's like the story of my life."

Roxas did not approve of all this connecting and bonding nonsense, especially when Riku had been all over Axel earlier. He snorted and muttered, "How ironic since it's about getting all doped up on cough syrup."

"No!" Sora retorted back at his brother. "It's about looking for true happiness and filling the void with stupid frivolous things that are temporary in that pursuit. So up yours, Roxas!"

The blond rolled his eyes in response. "Alright whatever, just start, Demyx, before I change my mind. You're lucky I'm even doing this at all, Sora."

And Demyx began play, so Roxas began to sing. Honestly, the blond hadn't anticipated how difficult it would be to sing in his current condition. Already, his throat wasn't at its best, but the soft collar only impeded his movement further. Still, he wanted to make Sora happy, so he tried his hardest.

The occupants of the room who hadn't really heard Roxas sing before (excluding Thanksgiving, which meant namely all of them except his family) seemed surprised by his voice. "_Life's too short to even care at all_," he sang, beginning the second verse somewhat sheepishly. He couldn't help but glance over at Axel every so often and the redhead's features currently formed an awe and admiration that embarrassed him and made him want to curl up into his boyfriend's chest and die.

By the time the song ended, relief washed over Roxas. He loved singing, but singing in front of people whose opinions he cared about unnerved him a bit. Really, he just wanted to never sing in front of them again. He could take praise for being cute (mostly because he didn't care for cute), but he certainly could not take praise for being good at singing or having a good voice. Receiving compliments wasn't something Roxas was accustomed to. Unfortunately for him, his friends showered him in praise, and he really couldn't take it.

"Hey, Sora," the blond said to cut off their compliments, "I was in the crash, too, so that means I get my song, too, right?" he wondered with a smile. Sora had a nice voice too (Roxas liked to think he was still better, though), which would hopefully shift the focus. Sora accepted accolades with ease.

"Huh? Well, I guess," the brunet mumbled. '_No, Roxas, come on, not in front of Mom and Dad…_' Clearly, he didn't want to sing either, which made the situation even better for Roxas.

"But it would make me feel better." And just like Sora had done earlier, Roxas gave his most pathetic and pitiable pout, batting his own lashes.

Sora caved almost immediately. He glared at his twin, his own lip set into an angry pout. "Roxas, I hate you. This totally isn't fair! How could anyone possibly resist that face?" he demanded. He sighed before warning everyone, "I'm not as good a singer as Roxas, so don't expect much from me. Anyway, Demyx, do you know the song Delirium by Motion City Soundtrack? Oh, and Roxas, I'm not gonna sing _all_ the words."

The blond scoffed. "You _have_ to! I demand it!"

In response, Sora whined but caved. "Fine. Mom and Dad, I apologize in advance. Please don't hate me for this," murmured to his parents who seemed practically asleep by now. They'd probably had long days.

And so Sora sang Delirium. He tried to quickly sing over a certain foul word, but Roxas made him go back and do it properly. Their parents seemed a little surprised, but they didn't say anything about it. After all, Sora had apologized in advance. They'd probably just never heard him cuss before.

Something settled over Roxas as he listened to his twin sing, and surprisingly, by the end he _did_ feel better. It was a sort of calm that made the blond want to sleep and not worry about anything. After the song ended, though, his anxiety returned.

After the song had been sung, Naminé, Demyx, and Zexion decided to leave. Demyx was Zexion's ride, so they left together. Larxene and Marluxia followed suit soon after. The pinkette even went so far as to kiss Roxas' forehead (Axel looked pissed) and wish him well with a very genuine smile. Everyone else left at the same time, but not by choice. A nurse came in and told them all that visiting hours were long over and told them all to return tomorrow.

Before they all left, though, Roxas asked Axel to stay behind for a second so that he could tell him something. Cloud and Sora's foreheads expressed skepticism about leaving the redhead alone with him, but Sora didn't have any say and Cloud didn't do or say anything about it. So Roxas and Axel gazed at each other alone in that room.

"Did you need something?" It appeared that Axel had been putting up a strong front for everyone while they were here, because now he just looked totally worried and strung out. He was standing next to Roxas' bed staring down at the boy with troubled, green eyes.

"Axel," the blond murmured in reply, mesmerized with his boyfriend's gorgeous face. "Just kiss me, please. I just feel like I need it…" He felt his cheeks burn and honestly, he felt a little stupid and childish asking for a kiss like that.

Axel didn't seem to mind. He chuckled and leaned down over the blond. "Anything for you, cutie," he replied before pressing his lips to his boyfriend's, gently caressing them with his own until Roxas was seeing stars. Much too quickly, the kiss ended and Axel pulled away. "Get well soon, okay? The neck brace thing is kinda stressing me out. You look so goddamn broken with it on!"

"Anything for you, cutie." Roxas stuck out his tongue as he imitated his other half.

The redhead chuckled, and when he started to head for the door, Roxas' heart rate shot up and he desperately didn't want the redhead to leave, but he couldn't do much about it. Still, hoping for a second or two, the blond called out, "Axel!"

Seeming to be suffering from the same clinginess, Axel was all too willing to spin back around and glance at Roxas expectantly. "Yeah, Rox?"

Honestly, Roxas didn't know what to say. He didn't know how to articulate his feelings. "Axel, I just- I just really l—" Quickly, the blond caught himself and flushed bright red, feeling immediately stupid. Seriously, throwing around the word love after maybe a month of dating? He felt dumb. "I just, I mean, I really like you?" He didn't mean to sound so unsure, but he just felt so silly.

Axel immediately blushed bright red and his lips quickly turned into a smile. He stayed there for a moment just beaming at Roxas before realizing his actions. Once he realized it, he wiped the goofy smile off his face. Unfortunately for him, he couldn't really do much about the blushing. '_Oh god, Roxas, I can't fucking handle this… God, I just want to be yours so— NO STOP BECAUSE ROXAS!_' "Um… um….!" he spluttered, flushing an even deeper shade of red. '_Think of nothing, think of nothing, just nothing, nothing, nothing, come on, move the feet, nothing, nothing._' Without saying another word, Axel practically sprinted from the room, wanting very badly to get out of that situation.

And that left Roxas alone in his hospital bed room with his face so red he swore it would stick around for days. Maybe it was childish of him to say he loved Axel now, but he definitely knew he was in the process of falling, and falling pretty hard.

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><p><strong>AN: **Aight, aight, that's wassup. Idk how I feel about this chapter. I felt the need to incorporate Cough Syrup and Delirium cuz I've been listening to those songs nonstop for the past month or so. But yeah, they are quality songs and if you haven't heard them you should.

The story will probably move a bit faster after this point. I don't wanna get bogged down on all the little things that happen, so yeah. Anyway, as for this chapter, I guess I like it. I like the end more than the beginning. And I think I'll probably play around with Axel trying to hide his thoughts from Roxas. Between him, Zexion, and Naminé, he was the only one to remain aware of Roxas' ability and realize that he sees their thoughts _all the time_.

And if you think you caught onto the foreshadowing, you should totally leave your guess in a review because everyone loves a good mystery, right? Right.

If you loved it or hated it or whatever review or alert or fave because it gives me heartburn in the most delicious of forms.

Kisses~


	25. In Which Roxas Gets Action From Sora

**A/N: **Yolo yolo yoloooo~ Yes I did just greet you with yolo. I've been saying it for a while now. Because yolo.

Anyway, here hi how are you this is a new chapter just for you. I wrapped it up all nice and pretty and errythang. But before you open it up and read what lies within, I wanna thank all reviwers and alerters and favorers (what even?) because y'all make me smile. Like, I'll be sittin in class and then my phone vibrates with a new e-mail (which is weird cuz I never have 3G turned on and Hotmail is the only provider I get the e-mails from on my phone right when I receive them without 3G so that's how I know it's from FF.) and I just find myself grinning like an idiot at my phone in the middle of class. Seriously, you are perfect. Never change.

And in response to all the guesses, they were all such good guesses! It turns out there were more than two events I foreshadowed in the last chapter. Some are correct, some are partially correct, and some are incorrect. I will say, though, that Sora will not get addicted to his medication. That'd be way to much against his character for this story.

Kingdom Hearts © Disney and Enix

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><p>Bright and early the next morning, Riku showed up at the hospital to visit Sora and then ended up at the Strifes' household when the twins checked out of the hospital with wishes of health from the doctors. The Strife parents wondered how they were going to get to work and get the twins to school. Of course, Riku offered his services as the twins' chauffer until they felt better. He admitted to already driving the brunet to school mostly every morning, and Cloud and Tifa were okay with it.<p>

Everything financial about the crash happened behind closed doors that made Roxas wonder if they were losing a bunch of money. From the events that followed in the next couple of weeks, though, he observed that, no, they received a bunch of money from their settlement in court. The first sign: they received a nice rental car in the form of aBMW 7 series 2010. The second example manifested itself in the fact that neither Tifa nor Cloud seemed at all stressed or worried about it. The third and final sign didn't come until much later.

During the two weeks that followed, Roxas found himself spending more time with Axel and Zexion, but at separate times. Axel always seemed to steal Roxas away from around 3 to 4:30 and then Zexion had him from 4:30 to 7 or 8 depending on whether he ate dinner with the bluenette or not. Roxas didn't quite know what had spurred this change, but he definitely enjoyed spending time with his two friends, especially because during school, Roxas felt the need to push Sora everywhere the brunet wanted to go.

Sora had assured the blond many times that he didn't need to go around with Sora all day, but Roxas' guilt over the crash got the better of him and he just couldn't leave his twin alone. As Roxas spent his time with Sora, he grew distant from his group of friends and even though the blond felt lonely sitting in mostly silence with Sora and his friends, he preferred that over the guilt that festered in his stomach when he spent time away from his twin. He tried to make do of the situation by becoming friends with Sora's friends, but only two seemed to not be completely fake, vapid creatures and one of them was Riku. Roxas had met the other friend the first day of school and she and Sora seemed close. She was a nice girl named Kairi, and something about her strongly reminded Roxas of Naminé. He didn't dwell on this.

Roxas never realized it, but Sora always gave him anxious looks when the blond chose to sit quietly with this bunch of people who didn't like him very much, but he didn't say anything about it. After school, though, Sora always stayed to watch the swim team do their fitness exercises since training for water polo had started. Roxas chose not to stick around to see this because it broke his heart to see his twin longing so badly for something the blond had taken away. So he went with Axel and they would hang out together until the redhead had to go to work.

They usually went to one of their houses and just enjoyed each other's company. Being that Roxas' neck and back were still fragile, Axel avoided physical contact like the plague. He even disliked it when Roxas looked up to meet his eyes. The redhead's intense fear bothered the crap out of the blond and he failed repeatedly to convince Axel that he was perfectly fine. At first, he'd been lying just because Axel's contact did wonders for his nerves. His neck had really hurt within the first week, but he hadn't wanted Axel to know that.

By the end of the second week, though, Roxas was absolutely sick of his boyfriend's paranoia. His neck still ached a bit, but it wasn't anything unmanageable. Plus, now he missed the redhead's warmth like crazy. The most Axel would do was hold his hand or, if Roxas was _really_ lucky, kiss his cheek. Really, Roxas just wanted to curl himself against Axel and cling to his chest like a leech. Unfortunately, the redhead absolutely wouldn't have it, and Roxas wasn't about to beg and complain. Now that some time had passed, he was pissed at Axel for being all touchy feely with Riku at the hospital, and he didn't want to appear more vulnerable than he already did.

When Axel and Roxas hung out, they would just watch TV and talk or do homework and it pissed the blond off. He couldn't count the amount of times he'd tried to kiss Axel, only for the redhead to shy away and lecture him about being more careful. He had stormed away from the redhead while they were hanging out three times within the past two weeks, and really, Axel became his least favorite person very quickly.

After the anger died down, though, Roxas feared that maybe Axel had just lost interest in him. This was the perfect time to distance himself from the blond, after all. Through all the rejection Roxas had faced recently, he was terrified to think that Axel might break up with him at any moment. The redhead's forehead certainly didn't help. Roxas hated himself for it, but he wished he'd never told his boyfriend about his ability to read truths. It made him feel selfish to think that, but Axel had adapted to this news very nicely. He kept his true thoughts hidden away behind stupid, meaningless ones. Maybe that was what convinced Roxas more than anything else. Why else would Axel be hiding his thoughts? It made perfect sense.

"Hey, Zexion," Roxas had called to his blue-haired friend once while they'd been doing their homework together at Zexion's house, "what exactly is Axel's relationship with Riku?" It was the second week of Axel's irritating behavior on Wednesday and Roxas was getting desperate. He wasn't even sure if Zexion would know anything about it, seeing as he and Riku didn't seem well-acquainted. He also didn't want Zexion to know about Axel. This wasn't because Roxas thought Zexion would tell anyone, but he'd already made Axel promise not to tell anyone about their relationship, and he didn't want to be a hypocrite.

"Huh? Riku and Axel?" Zexion had looked up from his book confusedly. "Oh, you like Axel, then?" he surmised easily.

Before even opening his mouth, Roxas apologized mentally to Sora for the words about to flow from his mouth. "I'm not asking for me," he informed the bluenette. Before he could continue, Zexion began talking.

"Oh, for Sora, then? I suppose that would make more sense. He _has_ been giving my poor cousin googly eyes since you guys arrived." Since Zexion had said it first, Roxas decided to tell Sora (if he ever found out other people knew, which, come on, everyone knew) that Zexion had guessed it for himself.

"Wait, wait, wait, _cousin_?" the blond wondered incredulously. It took him a moment to remember that Sora had already told him that they were cousins. "Oh yeah, you guys are cousins! Sorry, I forgot about that. Anyway, yeah, for Sora. I guess it's pretty obvious he has the hots for Riku and I kinda get protective of him."

Zexion grinned at this. "Aww, Roxy becoming all protective of his brother, how endearing! If only Marluxia was here to witness this."

Roxas flushed. "Well, whatever, answer the question, _Sexy Zexy_," he demanded.

The bookworm took another moment to grin before responding. "Well, nobody really knows what Axel and Riku's relationship is. It's a grey area amongst the group. No one even talks about it because it always upsets Demyx as Axel never explained it to even him. They're really good friends, I know that at least. I'd even go so far as to assume they were best friends. That bothers Demyx, too, though he swears it's not jealousy. I believe him, but, then, no one really understands the situation," he spoke up after some thought.

This did nothing to quell Roxas' fears and he tried not to seem worried. Luckily, Zexion misinterpreted his own selfish worry with a more selfless one.

"Oh, but I doubt you have to worry about Sora. Even though they're still pretty close, Riku's heart beats only for Sora. You really don't have to worry about him not returning Sora's sentiments," the bookworm explained.

About a million things went through Roxas' mind, but not just about his own situation anymore. "Wait, so then why is Riku dating that girl? And how do you even know, anyway? He's never even thought about it, so please elaborate?" the blond requested, making Zexion smirk at him.

"Well, I couldn't tell you why Riku's dating someone else. I'm not especially close to him or anything, and really have no idea what he's thinking. That's more your department, don't you think? And I know he likes Sora because he invited Sora over for Thanksgiving. He never invites anyone to have Thanksgiving with us. Regardless of whether your family was going to come anyway, the point being is that he still asked. Also, ever since you two moved here, Riku's changed. He was always so private and brooding. Demyx used to say he was a 'Debby Downer.' It appears he's gained more confidence in himself and he's much happier than he was before," the bluenette enlightened his blond best friend.

And that had put Roxas' mind at ease about Riku liking Axel. Roxas even felt a little silly for questioning his relationship with Axel. The redhead was probably just comforting Riku who was very distressed about Sora, and the blond could understand that. Roxas' fears were put to rest even more the very next day.

Roxas, Sora, and Riku were at the twins' locker when Riku whispered into the blond's ear and requested that they talk in private without Sora around and then told him to meet the silverette in the library next period. Curious, Roxas naturally followed his instructions and told the teacher in his next period that he really had to go to the bathroom, making sure to imply that it could take a while. His teacher, disgusted, allowed him to leave. The blond found Riku sitting at one of the tables in the back of the library.

"Hey, what did you want to talk to me about?" the blond wondered as he sat down across from the silverette.

Riku sat there for a second, clearly mulling over how he wanted to say whatever it was he wanted to say. "Um, well, I guess I'm kind of in love with your brother?" he eventually murmured, sounding sheepish. His cheeks turned pink and he rubbed at the back of his neck uncomfortably and never before this moment did Roxas see the resemblance between Zexion and Riku.

The first thing out of Roxas' mouth in response was very polite. "Then why the fuck aren't you dating him?" Oh, yes, Roxas really knew how to be eloquent and graceful with his words. Not to mention his _tact_. "And why the hell are you dating that other chick?"

If Riku seemed sheepish before, he now seemed like a fifth grader trying to confess his love for his crush. Who knew cool, collected Riku could be so bashful? "Well, see, I guess," he trailed off as he thought of a way to reword his intended meaning. "Look, let me just tell you a little story, and bear with me, okay? I know it sounds bad, but there's really nothing I can do to change it."

"Alright, I'm listening," the blond replied, wondering what on earth Riku could be hiding.

"Alright, so that girl, Melanie, that I'm dating. I'm not dating her because I _want_ to. I'm only dating her because she's blackmailing me. A few months ago, at a party during summer break, I had sex with her. I guess she really liked me and she thought that when we had sex, we would start dating afterward? But I didn't really even like her, and I only slept with her to begin with because I was drunk. Honestly, I don't remember it at all, but I woke up beside her the next morning and we were both naked and she had pictures, so, you know, apt evidence that I _did_ sleep with her."

As Roxas listened, he had a hard time picturing Riku sleeping with anyone. He seemed too straight-laced and proper to do something like that. And from the way he talked about it, it didn't sound like it was his first time, either. Hearing these things worried the blond. If Riku and Sora ever had a relationship, would the silverette be pushing him to have sex?

"Anyway, we were just friends for a while. And then you and Sora moved in near the beginning of the school year and when I met Sora and began to hang out with him at practice and stuff, I guess I just fell for him. How could I not, you know? But it didn't sit well with Melanie at all. When she realized I was starting to have feelings for Sora, she immediately started hanging out with him to learn more about him. She found that he hates a lot of the things that I've done. The most useful to her, though, was the fact that Sora doesn't believe in sleeping around _or_ underage drinking. So, of course, she pretty much had me beat. She threatened to tell and show Sora everything if I didn't start dating her."

"So what are you gonna do about it?" Roxas wondered.

Riku shrugged. "Well, there's not really much I can do, but she's the kind of girl to lose interest easily, so I wasn't really worried about it from the start. She's already starting to like this other guy, so now she's putting me through these 'good boyfriend trials' to see if I'm worth keeping around. Of course, I'm absolutely failing at it. She'll probably end up letting me off the hook in a week or two. She's already pretty sick of me," he explained.

The silverette continued on. "Anyway, that's not the only problem; not anymore. A while ago, I was getting out of the shower and I noticed this mole that I've never had before on my shoulder. I didn't really care about it at the time, but then after a couple of weeks, I noticed that it grew and it had changed color. I got kind of freaked out, so I looked into it, and, well, I think I might have skin cancer? Especially, you know, since the swim team kind of spends a lot of time outside."

That sent a jolt of fear through Roxas. "Cancer? Like, cancer, cancer?" he wondered. Cancer at such a young age? His heart raced. How could Riku have cancer? He couldn't be joking, could he? Did people just joke about that sort of thing? But the look of absolute fear and hysteria in Riku's eyes told Roxas that, no, Riku wasn't joking. "Wh-Why are you telling me this? And have you told your parents or, like, a doctor or something?"

Riku closed his eyes for a moment and sighed. "No, I haven't. And I'm telling you this because once I _do_ tell my parents, I know they're going to make a big deal about it, and then my brothers will hear about it, and so will Fuu and Zexion, and that'll be bad."

"Why is it bad if Fuu and Zexion hear about it? Fuu's your sister, right? And Zexion's just your cousin, so why does it matter?"

For just a moment, Riku looked at Roxas like he was crazy. "Fuu's _not_ my sister. She's mine and Zexion's cousin. Anyway, it's bad if they hear about it because it'll be even worse if Demyx finds out. You know, Fuu's one of Seifer's closest friend, and Seifer is Demyx's brother and just so happens to tell Demyx absolutely _everything_. And then Zexion's dating Demyx, so they obviously talk a lot. And the problem if Demyx finds out is that he can't keep his mouth shut about anything, especially not with the swim team. He'll blab about it and make a big deal of it and then Sora will find out. And Sora _can't _find out, Roxas. He just _can't_. You know what'd happen if he did find out, right?"

Roxas nodded his head in understanding. "Yeah, he'd go absolutely crazy. But still, why are you telling me this? I just don't understand what you want me to do."

"Well, I need you to keep Sora from finding out. I'm gonna ask Zexion and Fuu to keep the news to themselves and hopefully they'll feel bad enough for me that they'll actually listen, but I _know_ Zexion's step-mom won't. And on top of that, I'll probably miss some school as I deal with this thing, so I need you to cover for me and just keep Sora out of the loop. I looked up skin cancer and it turns out that it's usually pretty easy to cure in the early stages, well, you know, in comparison to other cancers. I'm hoping that'll be my case, but you never know, you know? So yeah, I just thought I should tell you. Sora just can't find out, okay? He's too fragile, especially now… But I'm sure you of all people know that."

Sullenly, Roxas just nodded. He didn't really know how he felt at that point. Mostly, he just felt sad. "Okay," the blond mumbled, trying not to sniffle. A lump had formed in his throat and he didn't really know why he felt like crying. He didn't even realize he was looking down at the table sadly until he felt Riku ruffle his hair.

"It'll be okay, Roxas, I promise. And I'm sorry about Axel," the silverette murmured.

"Huh? Axel?" Roxas immediately looked up. "Why do you bring him up?" He asked, trying not to sound too curious.

In response, Riku gave Roxas a shit-eating grin. "Look, I know you like him. You refused to let go of his hand at the hospital and after you asked him to stay back to 'tell him something' his entire face was red. So I'm sorry that I was all over him at the hospital. He's just really warm and comforting and I was freaking out."

Roxas blushed unintentionally and tried not to think too much about what had transpired behind the closed door at the hospital. "I don't like him, okay?" he murmured very unconvincingly.

"I'm glad you like him," Riku admitted with a charming smile. He seemed relatively calm now. "He needs someone like you. Anyway, you should get back to class. I'll see you around. I'll keep you posted about this little problem, though, alright?"

"Okay, whatever," the blond tried to sound uninterested, and he bolted from the library as quickly as possible. As embarrassed as he was, Roxas simply couldn't stop smiling (or blushing). He wanted very much to make out with Axel at that moment. He couldn't help but give Riku props for being so perceptive, though.

The next day, Roxas was looking forward to hanging out with Axel a little more than usual because the redhead didn't have work that evening, which meant that they would be able to hang out for longer, and the idea pleased Roxas. He had made up his mind some time after his conversation with Riku that today, he would not take no for an answer. He would make out with Axel if it was the last thing he did.

During the day, Sora had managed to convince Roxas to eat lunch with his actual friends, though a large portion of the convincing came from Riku. He didn't know why, but now that the silverette had shared something so important and personal with him, he felt like he had a special connection with the older boy. In any case, it didn't take much convincing for Roxas to follow through with their wishes. He missed seeing everyone's faces and interacting with them in general. The guilt didn't feel so bad this time around and to some degree, he felt that he'd served out most of his sentence.

When he arrived at the vending machines, his friends all welcomed him with open arms. Roxas hadn't realized it, but he'd really missed their abrasive, overly affectionate ways. Marluxia gave the blond a good, strong hug that popped any knots out of his back, Larxene kissed his cheek so hard that it nearly left a bruise, and Demyx and Naminé practically tackled him with hugs. He appreciated their affection more than he realized and actually had a nice day.

After school, Roxas tried to kiss Axel when they stopped at a red light on the way to the redhead's house. Unfortunately, Axel pulled away and told Roxas to stop straining his neck. With his first attempt shot down, Roxas realized he had to come up with a battle plan. He couldn't just charge in without a strategy. Since they were going to Axel's house, the blond thought of ways he could strategically kiss Axel without fear of retribution. Roxas realized that his height was what hindered him in this situation. It was too obvious when he went in for a kiss because he had to get up on his tippy toes. He decided that he needed to bring Axel down to his level quickly without room for the redhead to refuse.

As Roxas thought it over, he devised a plan in his head and tried to act normally for the rest of the ride to his boyfriend's house. It seemed like the success rate would be pretty high provided that Roxas could actually perform the required task to put the circumstances more in his favor. When they pulled into the parking lot, Roxas was very ready to succeed.

Axel laughed and joked with Roxas as they neared his suite, but the blond mentally prepared himself. He had to be fast, efficient, and accurate for this to work and his fingers itched a little in anticipation. When Axel unlocked and held the door open for Roxas before he himself went in, Roxas knew it was go-time. The redhead closed the door behind the two of them, and let out a surprised yelp when the blond quickly grabbed Axel by his shirt and threw him down onto the couch that was next to the door. Hastily, he straddled the redhead and firmly pressed their lips together.

Immediately, Axel struggled and pushed Roxas' face away. "Mph—Roxas! You're going to hurt your neck!" he admonished with a stern look on his face. His green eyes chided Roxas' playful blues and he seemed very upset.

Roxas' face fell in an instant and rage consumed him. "Axel, how many times do I have to tell you I'm okay before you'll actually believe me? My neck is fine, okay? Seriously, it's been two weeks, Ax, and I wasn't even badly hurt. The muscle relaxers have been helping a lot and it doesn't hurt at all anymore! Stop treating me like a fucking snowflake that'll melt away if you touch it!" he demanded.

"Rox, you know I'm just thinking of your health. Now, come on, get off," the redhead refused. His unyielding expression made the younger boy want to flip tables.

Instead of responded verbally, Roxas buried his fingers in Axel's hair and kissed him again, more passionately this time. The blond grinned around the redhead's lips in triumph when Axel defended himself by batting weakly at Roxas' sides. Nothing came of it, however, and soon, Axel was kissing back with the addition of tongue. Happiness shot though the younger boy as he made out with his significant other for the first time in two weeks. The moment was ruined, however, when they heard the sound of someone clearing their throat.

Almost immediately, Roxas and Axel broke apart and whipped their heads to look over at the source of the noise, which happened to be Reno, who had been watching them from the kitchen. Embarrassed, Roxas instantly ceased straddling Axel and sat normally on the couch, as did the redhead.

"Um." Roxas' face burned bright red.

Reno just stared back, looking a little uncomfortable still. Then, seeming to make up his mind, he grinned and began walking over towards the front door. "Well, I have plans, so yeah, I'm leaving," he explained.

Axel snorted. "What, you, a date?" he asked.

The older redhead rolled his eyes and opened the door. "Just drinks with the guys. Don't get into too much trouble, alright?" And with that, he was gone, leaving Axel and Roxas alone together.

The couple glanced at each other sheepishly for a moment before Roxas was already on his feet pulling Axel up with him, not needing any more of an invitation than that to continue with his operation. He guided Axel to the redhead's room and shoved the taller boy towards the bed as he closed the door behind them. Then, he straddled him again the same way he had earlier and reattached their mouths, Axel gladly reciprocating the actions this time.

"Mm, Rox, you're so pushy today," Axel observed as he pulled away from the kiss to breathe. He gazed into the blond's eyes playfully and smiled his genuine smile. '_God, Rox, stop seducing me, you little incubus._' "I like it," he murmured before pressing his nose to the younger boy's, eyes locked with his.

Roxas blushed a little bit, but smiled back, truthfully a bit overwhelmed at Axel's spicy, ashy scent. He could feel Axel's warm breath on his face and it made it hard for him to focus. "I just missed you touching me. It was really annoying, especially since my neck really doesn't hurt." The blond tried to continue meeting Axel's gaze, but his acidic green eyes gave him the chills and he couldn't help but look down. If he hadn't done that, he would've noticed Axel's features morph into a mischievous grin. He was thoroughly surprised when the redhead flipped Roxas onto his back and switched their positions, straddling the blond like a horse.

"Sorry, Rox, you're just too cute for me to _not_ want to mess you up," he apologized before attacking the blond's mouth like a lion. His tongue plunged into Roxas' mouth and explored the dark cavern with a degree of expertise that made Roxas blush. One of his large hands rested on Roxas' neck while the other cupped his cheek.

Much too gladly, Roxas returned the gestures, his hands resting on Axel's shoulders. His heart raged against his ribs and the heat from the redhead's face and body made Roxas's body warm up at a rapid pace. Having Axel's crotch pressed against his own did nothing to inhibit the excitement budding in his pants.

"God, Rox," the redhead breathed as he pulled away, "you're fucking gorgeous, you know that?" And he latched onto the blond's mouth once more before he could even respond. His hands moved from Roxas' neck to his chest and sides, sensually rubbing them alternately.

In response, Roxas let out a little moan of appreciation and ran his hands over Axel's back and face simultaneously, hoping to make the redhead feel at least half as good as he did. Their hands roved over each other as they continued their passionate kissing and the sensations put Roxas at a loss. All he could register was the pleasure he felt. When Axel's hand experimentally dropped down to the blond's thighs, however, Roxas' alertness burst back to life.

The blond pulled away from Axel so that he could breathe, and the redhead looked down at him with a worried expression on his face. Realizing he felt perfectly comfortable with the situation, Roxas took Axel's hand—the one on his thigh—and guided it slowly towards his crotch with a smile on his face. He flushed red and continued kissing his boyfriend once Axel understood that the blond had accepted his advances.

Even though Roxas knew it was coming, he couldn't help but moan and redden further when Axel's hand brushed over his goodies. He felt Axel grin against his lips and moaned again as the redhead grabbed at his package and began massaging it as well as his thighs. He honestly couldn't remember anything feeling so good in his life. Sure, he'd done this with Zexion and even with his ex-girlfriend before, but this was nothing like it. Immediately, he realized that with feelings and emotional investment, sexual experiences wracked his brain with pleasure far more than without.

"So cute," Axel murmured between heated kisses.

Roxas had to pull away and gasp when he felt the redhead's hand carefully make its way under the blond's pants and underwear. He whimpered wantonly as the redhead caressed his private skin and buried his head into the crook of his boyfriend's neck. His own hands rested on Axel's chest, but as the redhead felt him up, the desire to make Axel feel good as well blossomed. His hands skirted down Axel's body and stopped at his crotch where he gave a nice squeeze, causing the redhead to groan desperately into the blond's ear.

"Fuck, Rox," he whimpered at the touch. His face rivaled his hair in color and he seemed absolutely aroused both in the delicious distortion of his features as well as the hardness of his member. He whined some more when Roxas squeezed again and shivered against the blond. He then combatted this by wrapping his hand around Roxas' arousal and making the blond squirm.

"Ah, Ax! Oh, god," he murmured in a hushed tone. He pressed his face into Axel's hot neck in an attempt to dull the pleasing sensation, as if that was possible. He mewled quietly as his boyfriend began stroking his hard dick.

"Oh, Roxas," the redhead whispered to the blond, "you're so perfect. You make the most delicious noises."

Roxas' face hurt with the intense blush on it. Axel's words mixed with his painful arousal put him over the moon with pleasure and bashfulness. "N-no, Axel, don't-don't do that…" he requested. He was painfully close to bursting already and Axel's words were not helping.

Axel paused and made sure Roxas saw his grin before he continued stroking the blond off. In his aroused, husky voice, he whispered to Roxas, "I can't believe that someone like you is even dating me. You're the cutest, sexiest motherfucker I've ever met in my entire life. Whenever you smile at me, I just want to fuck you against a wall until you scream my name."

"No, Axel!" Roxas demanded, but he knew he was defeated as drool pooled in the corner of his mouth. His racing heart suddenly burst into overdrive and pleasure filled his vision with absolute whiteness. He didn't even realize it but he moaned out "_Axel!_" as he came hard into the said boy's hand. When he opened his eyes again, he was still breathing hard and he realized Axel was looking down at him lovingly. It made Roxas blush and instantly bury his face into the redhead's shoulder. He wasn't sure if he could handle the things he felt for Axel at the moment and he briefly wondered if he was even ready for what he'd just let Axel do to him. He'd enjoyed it, but he was just so _happy_ he didn't know how to handle it or what to do with himself.

"Mm, Rox, you're fucking adorable," the redhead murmured as he kissed the blond's temple.

Realizing that Axel's member was still under Roxas' hand, the blond decided he owed it to the taller boy to return the favor as well as the pleasure. The redhead grunted with desire when his boyfriend unbuttoned his tight jeans in order to obtain better access to his nether regions. From there, the blond took Axel into his hands and began pumping his significant other's manhood while said boy moaned helplessly against Roxas' ear.

It didn't take long for Axel to reach climax, and Roxas suspected it had something to do with the fact that the redhead had missed the other's physical contact just as much as Roxas himself had. Whatever the case, Axel rested his head atop Roxas' tiredly and they just lounged there like that for a few minutes, cuddling and enjoying each other's company.

"I missed you," the blond admitted after a few minutes of silence.

Axel chuckled in response, making Roxas feel butterflies in his stomach. "Why would you miss me? We hung out every day for at least an hour."

Roxas smiled and looked up so that he could lock eyes with his favorite person. "You refused to touch me for two weeks. I got more action from Sora than from you, even without the fact that I've had to give him baths ever since, you know. I just wanted to cuddle with you, you know, but you had to get all protective and reject me about a hundred times," he accused.

Unabashedly, Axel shrugged. "Sorry, babe, but I just didn't want to risk hurting you. I don't know what I'd do with myself if I did," he apologized. "Anyway, we should get cleaned up soon. Cum can be a bitch to wash off clothes if left too long and if it gets onto my sheets then you get to wash them, alright?"

"What, _me_?" Roxas demanded with an angry snort.

"Yes, _you_, because you seduced me, you little harlot. Now here," Axel paused for a moment to retrieve a box of tissues from one of the drawers of his bedside table and then handed a couple tissues to Roxas, "clean up."

Roxas took the tissues with a grin. "Tissues right next to your bed, Ax? Do you have lotion, too?" he wondered slyly. Still, he wiped his hand off as well as some of the jizz that had made it onto his stomach. Luckily for him, it appeared that none of it had gotten on his clothes or on Axel's bed.

The redhead snickered in reply. "Pfft, no way. The lotion is next to my other box of tissues next to the computer. Everyone knows porn's where it's at, Roxy-baby," the taller boy informed him very matter-of-factly. He kissed the top of Roxas' head before cleaning up his own little mess.

After they cleaned everything up, the couple decided to return to the living room and watch TV. Both of them felt particularly lazy as they cuddled together on the couch, occasionally kissing the other when they saw fit. Axel left the couch to make them some popcorn, and during that time, Roxas found himself practically freezing. The weather in Radiant Garden was growing colder with each day and the Strifes didn't have apt winter wear. The closest thing the blond had to something warm were either cardigans or thin sweaters that didn't do much for him in this cold. So while his heater was away, he began shivering on the couch.

When Axel returned, he grinned down at the blond before handing him the popcorn and leaving the room again. He reappeared a few short moments later with one of his sweaters in hand. It was a bulky, faded jade green sweater with a red circle in the middle that looked suspiciously like the Fire Nation insignia. With a grin, he tossed the sweater to Roxas before flopping himself back down on the couch.

"Huh? What's this for?" the blond boy wondered, examining the sweater for a moment before looking curiously up at Axel.

"You always look cold, and, sadly, I can't hold you all the time. So you can have one of my jackets to keep you warm when I can't. Tu comprends?" the redhead explained with a grin.

The very thought of doing something as cliché as wearing Axel's jacket made Roxas flush. Normally, he wasn't one to crave storybook romances, but the fact that his lovely boyfriend gave him one of his sweaters made him feel all melty on the inside. He grabbed the redhead by the collar of his shirt and gave him a good kiss as a thank-you. "Axel, tu es parfait. Vraiment," the blond murmured as he snuggled against the taller boy once more.

Axel simply chuckled in response.

"Oh! Au fait, j'ai parlé avec Riku hier et il nous approuve," Roxas informed his significant other.

"Ah bien? Alors, il t'a dit de Sora et aussi l'autre chose?" he asked carefully, obviously unsure if Riku had talked to the blond about the more sensitive subject of his cancer.

Not wanting to have such a serious conversation in his bad French, Roxas decided to just continue on in English. "Yeah, he told me about his… condition," the blond said, not wanting to drop the 'c' word. "And apparently, he thinks I'm good for you. And apparently he also loves Sora."

Axel snorted. "I could've told you _that_. He's been going on about Sora ever since their first day of practice together. For the past few months he's been asking me if I think Sora likes him back. He kept asking even after I told him it was blatantly obvious that yes, Sora liked him back," the redhead complained. As he said this, though, he seemed elsewhere. Somewhere unhappy.

"Um, yeah," Roxas trailed off awkwardly. He didn't know whether he should say something to Axel or try to cheer him up, but the redhead continued speaking before he could say anything.

"But yeah, you should hear him talk about Sora. It gets really icky and disgusting. He's always talking about Sora's gorgeous blue eyes or his petite frame and about how Sora is a flawless being and, really, it irks me because only one Strife twin pulls all those things off well and it just so happens that he is mine," Axel murmured in a sudden change of tone. He grinned at the blond expectantly.

"Fuck you, okay? Goddamn Axel!" Roxas huffed before grinning himself and kissing the redhead. He honestly couldn't remember ever being so happy or flattered. "I was actually a little surprised that he knew I liked you because I apparently hide it well enough to fool even Zexion."

Axel shrugged and began rubbing his boyfriend's side soothingly. "Riku's always been really perceptive. Sometimes it's kinda scary, but it's just how he is. But I doubt Zexion's a good judge right now. He's been in complete honeymoon phase with Demyx since Halloween. They're even more disgusting than Riku and Sora." The redhead shuddered at the thought.

"It's not as bad as when they first started going out, though. Remember when we went to get ice cream with them and they ended up feeding each other with their mouths? That was pretty bad."

"Oh, sweet Celestia, don't remind me." And he shuddered again. "But if Riku starts dating Sora after he deals with the whole cancer thing, it'll make my life harder, which is infinitely more disgusting than Dem and Zexy swapping germs."

"Oh yeah? And how's that?" the blond wondered. He could only think of the positive effects of Riku dating Sora.

"Well, even if Riku tells him that he likes him, it will inconvenience me because after Sora knows that Riku likes him, he'll start taking advantage of Riku because Riku has very little resolve or resistance against begging when certain people do it. Sora is one of those people and if he finds out Riku would crack at little insistence, then all he'd have to do is bat his lashes and Riku is down. Which, of course, affects my life personally because I know Sora would constantly ask about me and you. And I kind of tell Riku everything, well except that we're dating but I think he probably knows already. Anyway, the point being is that he'll tell Sora everything and complicate our lives."

"It'll be okay, Axel. I'll just tell Sora that Riku doesn't know what he's just messing with him or something. It'll be no big deal."

Axel grinned at him, utterly unconvinced. He didn't say anything, though, just kissed the blond and began tickling him.

When Roxas got home that evening, Sora questioned his sweater immediately and the blond reluctantly told him the truth that it was actually Axel's. He didn't like lying to Sora so much but when he had to go into detail explaining that he was definitely not dating Axel and that he didn't like the redhead at all, he wished that he _had_ simply lied.

As they ate dinner together with their parents, Sora mentioned the imminence of Christmas and the fact that he wanted to buy presents for his friends. At first, Roxas grew angry at his twin for subtly asking their parents for money, but then he realized that holy crap Christmas was right around the corner and then he sympathized with the brunet. He wanted more than anything to get a present for Axel and maybe Zexion.

And this was when the third sign that their family was financially stable occurred. Instead of apologizing for not having the money to give the twins for Christmas, Cloud and Tifa smiled at each other before promising the twins each $100 to spend on presents. This shocked both twins, but they were ecstatic, especially when they told the both of them to not worry about getting their parents a gift. Apparently the money they received from the insurance settlements had been enough of a Christmas present for them.

With $100 in his pocket, Roxas now faced the problem of what to get Axel for Christmas. He supposed he would just ask Demyx or Riku to take him to get the redhead a present. The choice rested between them two because Demyx was too oblivious to read too deeply into why Roxas only wanted to get a gift for the redhead and because Riku already knew something was going on. The blond didn't want to go shopping for his other friends just yet because he wanted to focus on Axel first. He decided the redhead should get a gift worth as much money as needed to make him happy.

Thus began Roxas' search for the perfect gift.

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><p><strong>AN: **Finally an end to ridiculous cliff hangers! Just a minor one this time, so yeah. Woo! Finally some akuroku action, too, which is always good. Never enough or too much akuroku.

Anyway, I've been thinking about reformatting the story a bit since I think it looks intimidating to ppl who are looking for new stories to read. But also, I want to go back and edit mistakes I've made and such, so I'm going to start combining chapters that I've already written as well as fixing spelling and grammar errors. So yeah, if you get an alert or something like that, it's cuz I'm fixing things up. Also, if you're super anal (lol) about spelling and grammar and such, please help a sister out and lemme know, aight? Aight, cool.

Leave reviews if you like akuroku because there's never enough akuroku love. Oh but also if you liked the chapter. And also alert fave, do what you do, I can't make you.

I hope you have a super fantastic day and wish me luck on finals week and luck to you also if you are taking finals this week! Byeee~


	26. Reno's Such a DILF

**A/N: **Hey all you people, hey all you people won't you listen to me? I just finished writing this update and the song is now over, sorry.

Sorry for the delayed update. I managed my time poorly when I have a lot of free time and it's summer now, so my apologies. I'm gonna try to be more punctual about it. This chapter was a pain to write, like you have no idea.

Also, in regard to the Great Purge going on here on FFN, I just want to let everyone know that if my story gets taken down for any reason (most likely sexual content), then I'll put this story up on either my deviantArt or Tumblr. Both are available on my profile.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart to anyone and everyone who reviewed and liked and alerted and everything~ Seriously, you guys are like the wind beneath my wings, or some literary variant of that. But honestly, you make me want to continue writing this monstrosity and I love every single one of you, even those who lurk in the shadows.

Kingdom Hearts © Disney and Enix

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><p>As Roxas had originally predicted, he found himself waiting at home for Riku to come pick him up the very next morning on Saturday, December 17th. He had planned to go shopping for Christmas presents with the silverette. In the end, Roxas chose to go with Riku because they could both get something out of it. In addition to the older boy helping the blond find a present for Axel, Roxas could aid Riku in finding a present for Sora. He fooled said twin (as well as Axel) into thinking that he was actually going to hang out with Naminé and the girls, so the brunet didn't really question him much. He planned on hanging out with Kairi that day himself.<p>

So there Roxas sat on the couch waiting for his brother's obsession to arrive and whisk them away to a mall sure to be covered in decorations and filled with people and stores with sales going on. He had texted Naminé informing her of the fact that he was supposed to be with her that day. She agreed to cover for him without any complaints.

Ten minutes later, Roxas sat in the passenger side front seat of Riku's silver 2009 Lexus IS F. What was it with all these goddamn rich kids and their expensive ass cars? It certainly fit Riku's personality, though with its sleek, clean exterior and immaculate, black leather interior. He didn't complain, of course, just sat awkwardly in the car with silence strangling the both of them. The reason for this stemmed from multiple causes, the two most prominent being that they weren't really friends and knew little about each other and the other being that Roxas didn't really know how to treat Riku after discovering the possibility of him having cancer.

Roxas really didn't know how to handle the situation. Still, he decided to attempt to make conversation. "So, you're in love with my brother, huh?" he spoke up.

Riku glanced sidelong at the blond, his face reddening very visibly. "Um, yeah. He's great," he murmured, clearly embarrassed.

"Yeah, that's cool." The blond found himself nodding his head awkwardly. "And he, uh, he loves you back." This was a statement. An awkward, uncomfortable, embarrassing (for Riku) statement.

"He loves me back?" Riku wondered in a hushed tone, not taking his eyes off the road. His mouth naturally fell into a smile at the thought and he looked quite pleased to hear this.

"Yup. His exact words were 'I think love him,' you, obviously, and he's said it a few times just straight up 'I love Riku' and once he said that you two were like soul mates. So yeah, he's pretty into you. So you better take good fucking care of him, alright?" Roxas warned. He still didn't know how he felt about the mutual feelings between the silverette sitting next to him and his brother. Sora was a delicate little flower when it came to his feelings. He had to be handled with care and positivity, two things the blond wondered if Riku had enough of.

This put Riku on edge a bit. "Uh, right, yeah, I will. But, you know, I still have to take care of the girl and the whole thing I told you about yesterday. But, yeah, I'll still be good to him until then, so no worries." he promised, sounding very worried himself. He put on the turn signal as he waited to merge into the left turn lane which led straight to the mall.

"You'd better. He thinks about you when he masturbates, you know."

Riku very unsafely changed lanes and scraped a tire against the medium dividing the two sides of the road, his face positively crimson. "O-oh does he? And you know this because…?"

"He told me," the blond explained. And the rest of the car ride remained awkwardly silent.

When they arrived at the mall, the both of them seemed to breathe easier. Perhaps the crowds of people around them took the pressure off because they had more to pay attention to now rather than just each other. They decided to window shop for a while as they browsed for things either Axel or Sora would like. It was an unspoken rule that they would be helping each other out.

Being that the initial pressure had faded, they talked to each other more. Thus, the awkward questions from Riku ensued.

"So, Roxas, are you and Axel officially a thing? I feel entitled to know seeing as he's my best friend," Riku said with a grin. So far, they hadn't seen anything they thought would perk their recipients' interests. They'd passed a furniture store, two nail salons, and an Apple store.

Completely unprepared, Roxas didn't know what to say. Riku clearly knew _something_ was going on aside from a mutual acknowledgement of each other's' feelings. Honestly, he didn't even know if he could lie to guy. The silverette was simply too perceptive. Then again, he _was_ wearing Axel's sweater. That probably gave him all the evidence he needed. After a moment's thought, Roxas completely crumbled, pulling nervously at the sweater's sleeves. "Well," he sighed resignedly, "it's a little complicated. Nobody else knows I like dick. Well, none of my friends or parents, anyway. Except for Zexion. And maybe Naminé."

Riku seemed dissatisfied with this answer, so he followed it up with another question. "So, are you dating him or not?" He added, "How much does Sora know?" after a few moments.

Blushing, Roxas half-shrugged and stared down at his feet. "Well, we're secretly dating. And Sora knows I'm gay, but he doesn't know that I'm dating Axel. As far as he knows, I only tolerate Axel because we have close mutual friends. He hates Axel, as you probably already know."

In response, Riku snorted. "Oh, do I know about his hatred for Axel." He rolled his eyes. "I wish he'd stop talking so badly about Axel. Axel kinda dug his own grave, though. There's not much I can do." '_He's my best friend, but Sora treats him like shit._'

"Yeah, I don't like it, either. We sort of reached an agreement that he's not allowed to trash talk him, but Axel still isn't allowed to come over to our house. Well, I sneak him over occasionally, but it has to be behind Sora's back, so it sucks. I don't really get to spend that much time with Axel outside of school anyway because he has work, so if we ever want to enjoy each other's company in peace, we have to go to his house. And sometimes Reno is there, and that fucking sucks."

Riku laughed at this, and Roxas discovered that he liked the silverette's laugh. He didn't laugh enough. "Yeah, Reno can be a douchebag. I imagine he blocks your and Axel's mojo hardcore."

"Oh, you have no idea!" the blond snorted in response. He couldn't help but take notice of the way Riku seemed happier and suddenly more open when they spoke about Axel. Jealousy and protectiveness began to twine their thorny tendrils around Roxas' toes, but he fought them off. Riku was into Sora. He admitted it and he'd been telling the truth. Getting possessive over Axel wouldn't do anything.

"I'd still fuck him, though. Reno's such a DILF even if he is kind of annoying," Riku informed him.

Roxas laughed and their conversation continued on as they searched for gifts. As they passed some women's clothing stores, the blond revealed that Sora would probably like to wear certain women's clothing. Surprisingly, Riku didn't question this. In fact, his forehead said '_Everything makes a bit more sense now._'

To Roxas' surprise (though really he shouldn't have been surprised), the silverette bought many, many things for Sora, most of them clothes. The blond tried to tell Riku to lay off of the gifts, that he didn't need to buy so much and that Sora would be just as happy receiving a packet of stickers from him, but the silverette laughed at him.

"I want to give Sora everything he could ever want. I want to spoil him rotten, and I have the money to, so why not?"

"Well, he's already spoiled as is," Roxas shrugged, regarding the multiple bags in his brother's obsession's hands, "and getting him all this stuff is just gonna make him want you more. Maybe now isn't the best time to buy him the world?"

Riku laughed at this, too. "Why not? This is the perfect opportunity. Sora will probably assume that I buy everyone a million presents. It can be our little secret, just like your relationship with Axel."

Thus they talked about Roxas' and Axel's relationship some more and honestly, the blond found it strange that Riku liked talking about Axel so much. He didn't really want to ask about it, being that they weren't very close, but Roxas had a feeling he was missing a key event causing Riku and Axel to be such good friends. It sort of surprised him that no one else knew about it if it was so important, but he knew Zexion hadn't been lying to him.

The shopping trip with Riku all-in-all went well. Roxas ended up finding the perfect gift for Axel which took the form of a castle play set from _My Little Pony_, which Riku agreed would gain him the redhead's love forever. Since it hadn't been too expensive, he decided to throw in an actual pony doll. His silver-haired companion suggested that he purchase a turquoise pony labeled as Rainbow Dash because it would complete Axel's set, so he did. This left him with sixty dollars, so he decided he'd try to spend around ten dollars on his remaining recipients, those being the rest of his friends plus Sora. Sora would be heartbroken if the blond didn't get him anything, even though they were brothers. He found stuff to get for everyone except for Zexion and Marluxia, but he decided he'd just keep an eye out for things to get them later on.

When Riku dropped Roxas off, Sora remained none the wiser.

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><p>At Radiant Garden High School, for some strange reason, they had two more days of school before being let out for winter break for roughly two weeks. Roxas didn't quite understand why they had to return to school until Tuesday just to be let out for an extended break, but he decided he wouldn't ditch school as his friends had pondered doing. In the end none of them ended up ditching. On the Tuesday, the last day before school let out, something very interesting happened.<p>

Everything went as normal, except for second period, where Roxas realized that he had forgotten to bring his binder to chemistry which they were turning in to be graded as a whole. Being that it was the last day, though, Mr. Price wanted to give a test to finish up the last chapter they'd done so that they wouldn't forget all the material over the break. The test took up the entire period, so Roxas promised Mr. Price to hand in the binder at lunch, and although he was clearly pissed about it, the blond teacher told him to make good on his promise otherwise he would only give half credit for all his work. Being the obedient student he was, Roxas agreed.

When lunch rolled around, Roxas broke apart from Zexion and Demyx (they were ignoring him in lieu of each other anyway) to deliver his binder to Mr. Price. Upon approaching the classroom, he witnessed Marluxia enter the room ahead of him. The halls around him had mostly emptied as the few remaining students grabbed their things and fled to the cafeteria and other eating areas, so Roxas quietly approached the door and eased it open a crack, not wanting to draw attention to himself.

Upon opening the door and peering in, Roxas saw a grinning Marluxia advancing upon a very no-nonsense Mr. Price. The older man had been interrupted in the middle of organizing papers in his hands before dropping them onto a stack of papers to grade. Currently, he stared Marluxia down with a distrusting look in his eyes.

"What are you doing here, Marluxia?" he asked, though it sounded more like a demand. Being that they stood on the exact opposite side of the large room as Roxas, he had difficulty reading Mr. Price's forehead, but he found that focusing very hard made the font larger and easier to read. Previously, he hadn't even known he could even do that. '_Oh, Marluxia, while I appreciate your company, now is far too risky a time._'

The pinkette grinned as he converged onto the older blond. "Well," he murmured in a playful tone, "unless we decide to meet outside of school sometime soon, I won't see you for two weeks, and I just thought that an awful shame, don't you agree Vexy?" He gently took the papers from Mr. Price's hands and placed them on his desk next to the meticulously neat pile of papers for him to grade later.

In response to this, the teacher flinched a bit and took a step backward. If Roxas' eyes weren't failing him, then Mr. Price's face positively reddened. '_Why must you always overcomplicate absolutely everything?_' "Marluxia, it is completely unprofessional for you to call me that at school. I demand you refer to me as Mr. Price so long as we are on school grounds." Before he could continue chiding Marluxia, the pinkette tutted him.

"Red herring, Vexen, so I'm going to ignore it and move onto business." Marluxia took a step forward to match Mr. Price's step backward. "Now, I would like to enjoy what little time we have left together. Unless of course you inquire about meeting outside of school, like to grade those papers perhaps." He gestured to the papers on the desk while further approaching the older man, resting his hands on Mr. Price's rigid shoulders.

"Marluxia!" the blond warned, smacking the younger man's hands away. "This is wildly inappropriate!" '_Marluxia, please not here, __**please**__._'

Instead of getting discouraged like Roxas imagined he would, Marluxia grinned wider and rested his hands on Mr. Price's waist. "You know, if I didn't know you so well…" he trailed off only to replace the sentence with one that made more sense. "Your voice is telling me 'no,' but everything else about you is telling me 'yes.' Now which do you think I'm more inclined to believe?" He gave a smug grin before closing the gap between them with both his body and his lips.

Completely flustered, the scientist pushed Marluxia away. "What if someone sees? I could be not only fired but arrested!" '_I can't believe I'm submitting to this… Why must you be so alluring?_'

After considering this for a moment, Marluxia released the older man and turned to the door closest to them, being that there were two doors to the room. He swiped the ring of keys lying on top of the scientist's desk and locked the door. He didn't even look at the door Roxas currently occupied before throwing the keys back onto the desk. "There," he said as he returned to Mr. Price, "I took care of it. Now let's continue, shall we?" He gave a goofy grin that told Roxas he absolutely adored this man.

Within no time at all, they began making out more passionately than Roxas would've liked to have seen. Marluxia even eased Mr. Price into sitting his desk and then stood between his legs as they swapped spit.

When the groping began, Roxas decided he'd seen enough and fled back to the vending machines with his friends. Upon arrival, the group all looked at him strangely, probably because of his heavy breathing and the fact that he'd practically run over to them.

"Were you able to turn your binder in to Mr. Price?" Zexion wondered.

Roxas shook his head. "No, I went to his classroom and he was, um, _occupied_. With Marluxia's mouth."

This came as a surprise to no one. They did, however, comfort Roxas for having to see such a spectacle.

Since he didn't get the chance to turn in his binder at lunch, Roxas decided to try again after school. Luckily, Marluxia wasn't there this time to distract Mr. Price. He felt a little weird entering his teacher's classroom knowing what had happened, but he tried not to let it show on his face.

"Strife, I told you to give this to me at lunch. That was our agreement," Mr. Price reminded him, looking very irritated. '_It's a good thing Roxas didn't attempt to turn in his binder at lunch… Still, Marluxia wasn't here the entire time. He could have given it to me at the end of lunch._'

Awkwardly, Roxas began to scratch at the back of his neck. "Well, I _did_ come at lunch, but the doors were locked…" the blond took a moment to pause and think before deciding to just tell his teacher the truth. "Actually, I saw. At lunch."

Instantly, Mr. Price's eyes bulged and he visibly paled. It took less than a second for him to recover and turn an icy, very angry glare onto the younger boy. "What did you _see_ exactly, Mr. Strife?" His deathly voice scared the absolute shit out of Roxas.

"Um, I saw you and Marluxia, you know… kissing and stuff," he murmured, absolutely terrified of what could happen to him. Normally, Mr. Price was very professional and formal, revealing little information about his actual personality, which scared Roxas because he didn't know what the older man was capable of. Before the scientist could even open his mouth to say anything, Roxas continued on. "But you totally don't have to worry, me and Marluxia are good friends and I like you and you're a good teacher so I won't tell a soul! I promise!" Hoping to ease the enormous tension in the room, Roxas's mind raced to think of something to calm his teacher a bit. Then he suddenly remembered that his teacher was a fan of Adventure Time. "I royal promise!" he cried and did the hand motion.

This seemed to startle Mr. Price. '_What am I doing intimidating him? He's absolutely harmless._' He titled his head to the side and the tension lessened considerably, though it still hung in the air. "A royal promise, hm? Well, Mr. Strife, you can't break royal promises; never, ever, never no matter what forever. You realize that, right?" His face lost the tension in had held in favor of a small smile.

Roxas smiled back. "Of course! So, here, I'm sorry about the scare, and I hope you still give me full credit, but if not, I guess I understand." He handed his binder to his science teacher. He felt extremely silly about the whole thing and couldn't help but chuckle a little.

Mr. Price took the binder and nodded. "I'm glad you were honest with me. I won't take off any points for tardiness." His gaze hardened again. "But next time, I will not be so lenient. In the future remember to bring your materials on time. Understood?"

The blond breathed a sigh of relief as he nodded. "Yes, sir. You're a tops teacher Mr. Price!"

In response, the older man smiled again and his face even tinged the slightest shade of pink. '_No one's ever complimented me like that before… Excluding Marluxia, but he's an exception to everything._' "You're a good student, Roxas," Mr. Price called out to Roxas as he turned to leave the classroom.

This put an immediate guilt trip on Roxas. Their group of friends already knew about Marluxia and Mr. Price playing tonsil hockey, and the pinkette would probably talk about it more. Thus, Roxas felt obligated to tell Mr. Price the truth. "Mr. Price, you should know, since I royally promised and all, Marluxia and I run with the same crowd. They already know what happened. They wouldn't dare tell anyone at the risk of Marluxia completely decimating them, but I just thought you should know. Anyway, happy holidays Mr. Price." And with that, the blond quickly escaped the classroom at the risk of having to face Mr. Price's anger yet again.

Hoping to put his mind at ease, Roxas continued on with his day, getting a ride home from Axel and then spending the rest of the day with Sora, who practically begged the blond to hang out with him.

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><p>On Christmas morning, Roxas found himself shouted awake by Sora, who impatiently began to throw various items at his blond twin when he refused to move. "Come on, Roxy, it's <em>Christmas<em>! We get presents! Get up, get up, get up!" the brunet urged his brother.

Roxas sluggishly rolled over to peer down at Sora from the top bunk and saw that he'd already situated himself in his wheelchair and was ready to go, though he was still clad in his pajamas. "Oh gosh, I'm almost scared to ask. What time is it?" he wondered as he rubbed at his tired eyes. Whatever the clock said, it was definitely too early.

"It's 6:30. Now up and at'em! Let's _go_!" Sora instructed.

Really, Roxas should've been used to this by now. Sora had been waking him up ridiculously early every Christmas morning for as long as he could remember. He should've been prepared, but for some reason he never was. Still, he clamored off the top bunk and began pushing his twin out of their room. Upon exiting their room, Roxas could smell breakfast cooking. Despite the fact that he himself dropped the ball every year, his parents never forgot that Sora liked to wake up unreasonably early on Christmas every year.

"Dad!" Roxas called as they approached the stairs. He couldn't carry Sora down the stairs himself because he was too heavy, so he always had to ask his father for help. He didn't mind this, though. Sora, plus the casts on his legs, was _heavy_.

Although Roxas's eyes barely stayed open through breakfast, he found himself feeling the same childlike excitement that emanated from Sora. They always had breakfast before opening presents, so Roxas had ample time to get amped over the coming present-opening. In addition to getting excited over presents, he also got to look forward to giving Axel and the rest of his friends presents. And later that day, the same crowd from Thanksgiving would be attending a Christmas concert that Demyx was in. Apparently, he was performing a few pieces on violin for a showcase headed by his music teacher. Roxas hadn't even known that Demyx played the violin much less that he had a teacher. He seemed like the type of guy to teach himself, but the blond decided not to question it. After the concert, Roxas was looking forward to hanging out at the dirty blond's mansion with his friends. Sora and Riku would probably tag along, too.

Being that Sora was in such a good mood, Roxas decided to try to use it to his advantage. Part of his day's excitement rested in giving Axel his present and he wanted to be able to hang out with the redhead afterwards. More than that, though, he wanted to give Axel more than just toys. He wanted to give the redhead the chance to actually be over at his house without being smuggled in behind Sora's back. It wasn't even a matter of his parents letting Axel come over—they probably didn't care—and the fate of his boyfriend's accessibility to the Strife household rested in his twin's hands.

"Hey, Sora," Roxas called to his twin as the Strife family feasted upon eggs, hash browns, and bacon at 6:45 in the morning.

Sora, who'd fallen silent in favor of daydreaming about whatever it was he daydreamed about, looked up curiously. "Hmm?"

"Since it's Christmas and all, I was kinda wondering if you'd do me a solid." Roxas feared that if he said it too quickly then Sora would reject his proposition just as quickly.

"Sure! What's up?" He cheerfully glanced at his twin.

"Well, can Axel come over for a bit? I wanna give him his present and he doesn't have anything else to do today. So yeah, can we suspend that deal we had?" the blond requested cautiously.

Sora's features hardened immediately and he frowned. '_Roxas, you're gonna make him think you actually like him. He's just gonna be more of a jerk!_' Not taking long to think about the offer, the brunet shook his head. "Nope, he can't come over. You can't break our deal, Roxy! You promised."

Roxas sighed, exasperated. "But Sora, it's _Christmas_! Where's your holiday spirit? Please? And isn't Riku coming over?" the blond asked. He thought it extremely lame of Sora to not allow Axel to come over and then turn around and have Riku come over. It wasn't like they were gonna make out on the couch for the whole family to see, to Roxas' displeasure.

"Well, yeah, so?" Sora wondered sternly, looking utterly unconvinced of whatever his twin would try to convince him of.

"So Riku will keep you busy. You won't even have to see Axel if you guys stay upstairs or if you decide to go somewhere." Roxas searched his brother's face and upon finding skepticism there, he decided to switch up tactics a bit. He tilted his head to the side and begged, "Come on, Sora, for _me_?" He stuck out his bottom lip as the icing on the cake.

Irritably, the brunet scratched at his head and frowned. "Roxas, that's so not fair! How can I say no to _that_ face?" He demanded, pointing an accusatory finger at the blond. "And you know why I don't want him here! And if I left him alone with you, he'd probably," furtively, Sora flickered his gaze to both Strife parents who were currently wrapped up in a conversation in the kitchen as they drank coffee, "put his hands all over you or try to kiss you or do something sexual to you or something!" he continued in an angry whisper so that they didn't hear.

"Well, if it isn't happening here, it's happening elsewhere. And besides, if he comes over here, you can keep an eye on him. Plus, I _really_ doubt he'd make a move on me with everyone home. Come on, Sora! Please, please, please, pretty please with sprinkles and cherries on top?" Roxas gave Sora the brunet's own devastating puppy dog pout.

Sora rolled his eyes and sighed. "_Fine_. But Riku and I will have our eyes on him! We'll be watching to make sure he doesn't pull any funny business! And if he tries, then he is definitely banned forever without any hope of a second chance, got it?"

Roxas smiled and nodded and immediately texted Axel that he could come over later with Sora's permission. Even if he couldn't quite yet cuddle openly with the redhead, it was a step in the right direction and he was glad for it. Hopefully, Axel would be able to convince his twin that he actually wasn't as terrible as the brunet thought and be allowed to return for more visits in the future. A thought came to him, though.

"Hey, Sora, do you know if Riku and Axel are friends? I've been kind of wondering about it," Roxas asked.

Immediately, Sora scowled. '_I think Riku has a crush on the asshole._' "No way, Riku wouldn't stoop down so low as to be friends with _him_. They're merely acquaintances. Probably through Demyx and Larxene and Marluxia. You know, because Larxene and Marluxia are seniors too and have a couple classes with him. And actually probably Zexion, too, because they're cousins. And also probably Seifer because I just remembered Seifer's a senior, too, but also because of Demyx. You know, that includes Naminé because of Demyx, too. Plus, I heard Riku and Naminé used to have a thing or something but it was behind Demyx's back and it happened like two years ago but he still doesn't know till this day. You know what; Riku just has a lot of mutual friends with Axel, so they're just acquaintances. Nothing more."

Roxas just grinned. "Sure, that's it." And then he texted Riku recommending that he tell Sora about his best friend Axel. The blond had a feeling that Sora might not hate the redhead so much if he knew that the two older boys were only affectionate because they were best friends. Though, Roxas couldn't help but wonder about Axel's side of the story. The redhead had never really brought up Riku before without Roxas doing so first, which seemed strange seeing as how interested in Axel the silverette seemed to be. Honestly it seemed a little strange that Roxas hadn't heard anything about this up until a few days ago. Even if no one in his group of friends talked about it because it upset Demyx, it still didn't make sense that Axel wouldn't bring up the silverette when the two of them were alone.

After a moment of silence, Roxas glanced over at their parents to reassure himself that they were still focused on their own conversation before turning back to Sora. "Sora, does Riku play for our team or is he bisexual or something?" he whispered to his twin. Thinking about it, Roxas really didn't know. There was evidence to prove he could be attracted to both men and women, but it made Roxas curious.

Sora shook his head and took another bite of his eggs. After swallowing, he elaborated. "Riku told me he's pansexual. You know what that is, right?" the brunet explained.

"Well, sort of, but explain it anyway. I'm not exactly an expert on sexuality."

His twin took a moment to consider how to word his explanation. "Well, basically, it means that Riku can be attracted to someone regardless of sex or gender. But it doesn't mean he's attracted to _everyone_. He just doesn't see sex or gender as a determining factor. He said he can appreciate both a nice rack and a nice package and he honestly doesn't prefer one over the other. It all depends on the situation and the person, he said. Which is absolutely _perfect_ for me!" Sora blushed and giggled as he thought of his obsession.

That explained why Riku wasn't so bothered when Roxas informed him that Sora liked girly clothing.

Opening presents after breakfast went smoothly. They didn't have too many gifts, but both twins definitely liked what they got. Roxas got a new skateboard and winter-appropriate clothes, which made him very happy. Even though he'd also gotten a new coat, he knew he'd just keep wearing Axel's. It smelled like the redhead and that's all the convincing necessary for Roxas to make the decision.

Sora on the other hand also got new clothes, but also a pillow pet, candy, and other cheap, silly things that he loved. The brunet seemed overjoyed to receive these gifts, though, which made Roxas wonder how happy he would be with Riku's presents. Even if he didn't like some of the clothes the silverette bought him, there was still a small mountain for him to choose from. Of course, Sora would be happy receiving _anything_ from Riku, and Roxas suspected that he'd keep every single article of clothing even if he didn't like it, just because Riku gave it to him.

In an extremely large surprise, Cloud and Tifa presented the twins with a bigger, much more expensive gift. The two Strife parents led their kids out to the front yard where they then lost their shit over the two new cars in the driveway. They weren't _new_ per se, just new to them. Both cars seemed to be used, one much more so than the other, but that didn't matter to the twins. They went and inspected the cars before glancing questioningly at their parents, identical expressions of disbelief on their faces.

Cloud chuckled at their enthusiasm and Tifa smiled warmly in his arms, eyes still trained on their sons. "Don't get too excited, boys. One of them is mine. You two get the Honda Civic over there," Tifa informed them, her voice warm and honey-like.

Sora inspected the Honda's interior through the windows as Roxas turned to his parents excitedly and asked, "How did we even afford this?"

The two Strife parents glanced at each other and chuckled. Cloud fielded this one. "We were already saving for a car for you guys, and after the crash we got a hefty sum from that asswipe's insurance company which gave us enough money to buy both."

Roxas just nodded and struggled to catch the keys his father threw to him. Without hesitation, Roxas unlocked the doors and began to explore the interior, along with Sora, who launched himself into the backseat and gave a triumphant smile as he readjusted himself in the seat, his wheelchair discarded.

As if on cue, the Strifes all piled into the car, Roxas at the wheel, and went for about a twenty minute drive. Roxas honestly couldn't believe his parents had bought him and Sora a car. Roxas hadn't even thought he really needed one seeing as everyone of his friends save for Naminé and Zexion could drive. He didn't even think he was that deserving of a car. He got good grades, sure, but he didn't play a sport or offer anything redeeming to the family. He didn't have a job or help out around the house; hell, he was hardly even home. Honestly, Roxas didn't know what he, personally, could have done to make his parents think he deserved this. Not even Sora contributed much.

Even though the brunet played a sport, he didn't get very good grades, and everything else after that matched with Roxas' story. He didn't have a job and even in his injured state, he was hardly home.

Still, even if he didn't think he deserved the car, he appreciated it like nothing before.

* * *

><p>Christmas day ended up being a very successful, eventful day for Roxas. When Axel came over, there were no problems really, aside from some passive-aggressive comments from Sora. Luckily, Riku's presence as well as the gifts he'd given the brunet kept him in good spirits. Axel looked about ready to wet himself when Roxas presented his favorite redhead with the gifts he'd picked out with Riku and he'd hugged the blond so hard he honestly worried about breaking a rib.<p>

Demyx's concert also went well. He played three pieces and was among six other musicians. It seemed they all got 15-minute slots for a varying amount of pieces depending on the length and the entire event took two hours. Roxas had never been one for classical music or anything, and although it was awesome to see Demyx perform a challenging piece on a different instrument from a guitar, he honestly would've fallen asleep if not for the mini-roast of each musician Marluxia and Axel made up as they watched the other performers.

After the concert, all the children made their ways over to Demyx's house to hang out. The night took on a bit of a sour turn when the sandy blond let Sora and Roxas use his laptop to Skype with Hayner, Pence, and Olette. They had been hanging out in the tree house on Hope Island, the little island where all the kids on the island went to hang out. As it turned out, they'd spent Christmas partying with Rikku, Wakka, and Tidus, but Rikku and Wakka were already passed out in a corner when the Skype call took place. The sour part came when Sora asked if Hayner could take his laptop outside and show him the ocean. Hayner, of course, complied, but Sora hadn't been ready to see the ocean so soon yet and he began to cry, forcing Roxas to take over and calm him down. Riku watched, painfully biting his lip as he resisted the urge expressed on his forehead to take the boy into his arms and kiss his tears away.

Eventually, the twins found themselves back home and in bed. Roxas absolutely couldn't sleep, though. He texted Axel until the wee hours of the morning before his eyelids finally closed and he passed out.

* * *

><p>When Marluxia sent a text to Roxas requesting to meet with him and Mr. Price at a diner somewhere in the city, Roxas grew concerned. Why would Marluxia call him to meet with Mr. Price? As far as the blond knew, he'd already solved the little issue he'd had with his teacher, and Marluxia trusted Roxas enough to not tell anyone the pinkette wouldn't about his relationship with the older man, so he wasted no time in promising the older boy that he'd be there. The blond decided this was a good opportunity to drive his and Sora's new car, so he climbed into the front seat and went on his way.<p>

Honestly, Roxas didn't know what to expect when he arrived (fifteen minutes late because he'd gotten lost on the way), but he hadn't really counted on Marluxia and Mr. Price to be sitting together in a booth with coffee talking and laughing. Just like he'd observed back at school, the unofficial couple acted very naturally together and seemed like they truly enjoyed each other's company. It made the blond smile for a moment before he remembered that he was meeting them for a reason. He approached cautiously and greeted them both somewhat shyly. Seeing Mr. Price in more casual clothing and outside of school made him feel weird.

Marluxia switched sides to sit next to Mr. Price and instructed Roxas to sit down across from them. " Roxas, do you know why I called you over here?" the pinkette asked once the blond had settled into his seat.

"Um, is this about the Tuesday before break?" he wondered, trying to study their foreheads for anything useful to find out why he was here. Sadly, their foreheads revealed nothing.

The pair shook their heads before glancing at each other for a moment. Mr. Price sat very rigid in his seat with his arms gently crossed over his chest in more of a serious manner than a dismissive or hostile one and the way he leaned into the table told Roxas he was interested to see what would happen.

"Roxas, Vexen and I were talking yesterday, and I revealed something to him that I've never told anyone about before. Then he revealed something to me of the same breed," Marluxia began to explain slowly.

Immediately Roxas knew why the pinkette had called him here. He sat up straighter and quickly glanced around them as if anyone would be listening. "So, you too?"

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **AND YOU THOUGHT THERE WOULDN'T BE A CLIFFHANGER.

Anyway, the story should be picking up from this chapter on and moving faster because I realize we're 26 or so chapters in and nothing has been resolved yet. Only problems have arisen. And more are to arise.

I have nothing else to say except maybe good night because it's 2:30AM and I need to sleep.

If you want to review or alert or fave, that's cool, but if not, that's fine too. It's your life. Do what you want. Because you're also a pirate.

Kisses 4 lyfe


	27. Yearbooks are Better Than Porn

**A/N: **Oh god oh god oh god, I'm so sorry Dx I'm a dirty, filthy liar!

HERE HAVE AN UPDATE ON AKUROKU DAY. IT'S EXTRA LONG AND GIRTHY (like Axel's penisI'M SO SORRY)

Thanks to everyone who reviewed and alerted and faved like you guys are awesome Ilu can we please make cute little akuroku babies together. Well unless you prefer soriku babies or zemyx babies.

Also, as a forewarning, this is mostly unedited. If you find errors, it would be nice if you could point them out to me please and thank you~!

**ALSO, THIS I PROBABLY MORE IMPORTANT,** well for later chapters it will be. I keep forgetting to mention that I sort of changed Sora's character a little bit. I haven't edited the actual story yet, but I've made the changes to the file on my computer. Basically, he doesn't see himself as a girl or boy or whatever. He sees himself as Sora. I think that makes more sense for him. He just likes the kinds of clothing that he likes and sometimes it happens to be girly and sometimes it isn't.

Okay please continue.

Kingdom Hearts © Disney and Enix

* * *

><p>It would be about fifteen minutes before the sun reached the center of the sky, marking around noon-ish, but despite it being the middle of the day, the temperature hadn't climbed any higher than fifty degrees that day. Breath could easily be seen billowing in small puffs out of the people bustling around the shopping center. Nobody really took notice of their little clouds, used to this cold weather and having lost interest in seeing their own carbon dioxide years ago.<p>

Inside the café (which was part of the aforementioned shopping center), heat filled the air due to the heaters and the presence of other people. Not too many had come in to dine. Despite it being almost noon, this café didn't see many sitting around inside eating, probably due to the fact that several other fast food places inhabited the area and most people didn't want to have to sit down and wait for food to be ready. Their lunch breaks wouldn't allow it. At most, there was a line for coffee to go, but not many people sat to eat. Amongst the few costumers who'd chosen to sit and chat, two blonds and a pinkette resided in a booth in the corner.

Roxas could've laughed at the looks on Mr. Price's and Marluxia's faces. He'd read their foreheads to assure himself that they had been talking about having special abilities, so he had no qualms over bringing the topic up. Both seemed at edge in the situation, which was uncharacteristic for the pinkette, so the blond had decided to put them at ease. Really, he couldn't believe that _Mr. Price_ had a special ability. Not that he knew what it was yet, but the prospect boggled his mind.

Marluxia and Mr. Price exchanged looks for a second before looking expectantly back at the younger boy. "So you know what we're talking about?" the pinkette inquired.

"Yeah, I can read truths- err minds. Sorry, I call them truths, but yeah, I can read minds." Roxas explained. He could feel the goofy grin on his face and he worried a bit about how much he looked like Sora right now.

Immediately, it seemed that both older men let out relieved breaths and smiled at him. Marluxia turned to Mr. Price and let out a hearty laugh and playfully shoved him with his shoulder. "I guess you were right, Vexy. I can't believe it!" He laughed again, this time more sheepishly.

In response, Mr. Price glared at Marluxia and growled, "I believe I told you not to call me by that name!"

"Ah, ah, ah, you told me not to call you that so long as we are, and I quote, on 'school grounds.' This looks nothing like school grounds to me, Vexy," the pinkette tutted him. The grin he supplied seemed to reduce the tension Mr. Price visibly felt, and to Roxas, he seemed almost as if he swooned inwardly at that grin.

Feeling a bit weird about watching these two interact as if he wasn't here anymore, Roxas cleared his throat and interjected, "Um, why did you guys choose to talk to _me_ about this first? Marluxia, wouldn't it make more sense for you to go to Larxene first?"

Without a moment's hesitation, the older teen turned back to Roxas and explained. "Well, of course I thought about talking to Larxene first, but I quickly realized that if I told _anyone_ else and they didn't have an ability of their own, they'd heckle me for it. Save for Demyx, but he'd simply relay the information to Axel and then I'd end up being harassed anyway! But you, Roxas, are much nicer than everyone else in our group, and even if you didn't have a gift of your own or believe me, then at least you'd do me the decency of just _silently_ thinking I'm absolutely crazy."

Roxas disregarded the pinkette's explanation. His excitement over two more people having abilities outweighed his care for Marluxia's decision to bring the topic up to him first. "So what are your powers, then?"

Mr. Price decided to respond to this inquiry. "We will discuss that in a moment, Roxas. Firstly, I must ask, do you know if any of your other friends have abilities? Marluxia informed me that he, himself, didn't know if his friends had abilities. My personal reason for requesting you specifically lies in the fact that when he mentioned your name as a person we should consult, it stuck in my head. So yes, can you provide any information on anyone else?"

"Actually, yeah, I've already talked about this with most of our friends, Marluxia."

The pinkette seemed intrigued to hear this. "Oh, really? Do share, Roxas!" he encouraged.

"Yeah. Zexion, Naminé, and Axel can all do things. I'm not sure about Demyx or Larxene, but the three of them for sure have abilities of their own. But if everyone else has them, then Demyx and Larxene probably do, too. And Zexion could've talked to Demyx about it already, but I have no idea," Roxas explained as he thought it over. The way things look right now, it honestly wouldn't make sense for Larxene and Demyx to be the only "normal" members of their group.

"Zexion? Zexion Corazza?" Mr. Price smile a little at this. "That doesn't exactly surprise me. He _does_ seem like the type. Naminé, on the other hand, if we are both thinking of the same girl, _does_ surprise me. She never really seemed that way to me." '_So Zexion possesses a talent? I'm pleased to hear this_.'

Seeing that Mr. Price took an interest in his blue-haired best friend, Roxas decided to provide more information. "Yeah, Zexion's been studying his ability, too. Mine also, but he has a pretty good grip on his own power. He even experiments on lab rats and stuff. It's kinda weird, but really cool."

The pride that appeared on Mr. Price's face perplexed both Marluxia and Roxas.

"Hmm, Vexy, why do you appear so pleased to hear about Zexion torturing poor little mice?" the pinkette wondered.

"Oh, well," Mr. Price flushed a light shade of pink, "even though it's frowned upon to play favorites as an educator, Zexion Corazza happens to be my favorite student. He's quite an interesting individual. I didn't even realize you all were friends."

"Why is it such a surprise that Naminé is one of us? You've seen me talking to her in class, and we're always lab partners on lab days," Roxas wondered.

At this, Mr. Price scrunched his face a little bit. "I'm sure she's a perfectly nice girl, but on the majority of her assignments, she draws many… _interesting_ things. She's drawn me having carnal relations with various other staff members over the course of the year."

Marluxia broke out into cackles at the news and clapped a hand down on the older man's shoulder. "That sounds _exactly_ like Naminé," he managed between chuckles after his crescendo of laughter passed.

"Alright, so I've told you what you wanted to hear, so what about what I wanted to hear? What are your powers?" the blond eagerly questioned.

Marluxia grinned at Roxas for a moment after glancing over his shoulder for a second. "Just watch and try to guess. And don't offer me any money, either of you," he instructed.

Not even a minute later, a waitress approached the table with the bill for the coffees Mr. Price and Marluxia had ordered. Being that she had no other customers to attend to and also being that she seemed to be in a bitchy mood, she stood there waiting for money to appear on the table so she could be on her way.

Marluxia took the bill and then pulled out his wallet where he found he only had a five dollar bill, not nearly enough to cover the eight dollar total, much less a tip for the waitress herself. He looked to Mr. Price and Roxas expectantly. "Do you two have any money with you? I'm afraid I only have a five."

Mr. Price glared at the pinkette. '_Marluxia, this is a __**terrible**__ demonstration!_' Still, he shook his head, and Roxas decided to follow suit.

The waitress sent the pinkette a death glare that nearly matched Cloud's death glares in intensity. "So you _don't_ have enough money to pay? Hmm?" she demanded, hands on her hips a scowl deep set on her face.

Without missing a beat, Marluxia turned to the waitress and leaned in front of the scholar sitting next to him so he could gently take one of the waitress's hands off her hip and into his own hand. He smiled sheepishly up at the woman and tilted his head slightly. "It appears not. I'm absolutely mortified and terribly sorry to do this," he paused and widened the guilty smile on his face, "but could you pay the rest of the bill? As a little favor to stupid ol' me?" He fluttered his eyelashes and stroked her hand with his thumb.

Surprisingly, instead of screaming at the man clinging to her hand as Roxas had expected, she began blushing. She brought her free hand to her chest and gasped silently. "W-well, I mean… I guess I could," she murmured dazedly. "But only this one time, alright, sweetie?"

"Of course!" Marluxia agreed and then the waitress eagerly dug around in her pocket to pull out her wallet and then enough money to cover the cost of the bill. "Thank you so very much!" The pinkette expressed his gratitude by sending a wink the waitress's way. She merely blushed again and then hurried off to tend to other customers, leaving Roxas mystified, Mr. Price very irritated, and Marluxia very self-satisfied.

With an innocent smile, the pinkette turned back to Roxas. "Do you get it? I can charm absolutely anyone. I can release a pheromone of some kind to make people go absolutely gaga over me. I'm absolutely irresistible!"

Mr. Price snorted. "It's a terrible power. You're no better than a whore," he accused. '_How dare you smooth talk that waitress right before my very eyes! You're supposedly crazy about __**me**__ so don't give anyone else that gorgeous look!_'

Again, just as naturally as always, Marluxia laughed good naturedly before planting a nice kiss on the blond man's cheek. "Oh, Vexen, don't you worry your pretty little head. Of course I only have eyes for _you_. There's no need to be jealous, now."

Wanting to get back on track before things got out of hand, Roxas cleared his throat and asked, "Mr. Price, what can you do?"

"I can manipulate the weather, and even control it," the teacher answered. "Which could explain why Radiant Garden is typically on the chilly side. I have a fairly cold personality. Ice King, remember?" He gave Roxas a secretive smile. '_I certainly hope he understands the reference._'

Roxas couldn't help but grin back like a fool and laugh. "Yeah. Next you'll be telling me that if you grow a beard, you'll be able to fly."

Mr. Price supplied a few chuckles of his own. "Who's to say I can't? I've never grown a beard before, and it's a possibility, given the existence of other abilities."

Marluxia just watched them in confusion. The jokes went directly over his head. He decided to interrupt. "_Anyway_, Roxas, what can you tell us about Zexion's, Naminé's, and Axel's abilities?"

From there, Roxas told the two older men about each of his friends' abilities. He didn't want to explain them in their entirety, though, since it seemed Mr. Price wanted to meet with everyone to speak with them. It surprised Roxas (though it probably shouldn't have) that there were more people in the area with abilities like theirs. Mr. Price explained that he wanted to talk to everyone at one time with the other "members," as he had called them. He informed Roxas that he would be keeping in touch through Marluxia and that he had to first make plans with the "superior," whoever that was.

After hearing this explanation, Roxas bade farewell to Marluxia and Mr. Price who actually seemed to have taken this opportunity to go on a date. Thus, the blond wound up at Zexion's house about twenty minutes later.

For some strange reason, Mrs. Corazza had insisted that Roxas should just barge into their house without knocking whenever he wanted to visit. She kept giving him earfuls about it until finally the blond just decided he'd do as she wanted. That had taken place a couple of weeks ago, however, and Roxas had used the privilege many times since then. Thus, he regarded this time as the same as the others and simply opened the door. He wound up opening the door to reveal Demyx and Zexion hanging out on the couch in the bluenette's living room.

After about a month of his two friends dating, it seemed that their "honeymoon phase," as Axel had called it, had fizzled down into a nice relationship despite their being opposites. Zexion read a book silently while Demyx leaned his back against the smaller boy with his legs hanging over the arm of the couch with a guitar in his lap strumming whatever melody came to mind.

"Hello, Roxas." The bluenette greeted his best friend as he sat down in one of the lounge chairs in the living room.

"Oh, hey Roxy!" Demyx said with a bright smile. The sandy blond looked out the window just beyond Roxas before digging for his phone in his pocket. "Shit," he murmured before picking up a guitar case that had been hiding on the floor between the coffee table and the couch. "I gotta go, Zexy," he explained as he put away the instrument and fastened the clasps on the case.

"Well, alright then," his other half responded, preparing to stand and walk his guest to the door.

"Oh, no, no, no, no," Demyx protested, gently pushing his boyfriend back down on the couch. "It's fine, I gotta get going like ten minutes ago, anyway. Bye, cutie-pie!" He giggled as he planted a kiss on the smaller boy's cheek.

Roxas chuckled at the way Zexion's face reddened as he put a hand to his cheek and watched his boyfriend hastily leave. "What's up with everyone today and their disgusting relationships with their boyfriends? First Marluxia and now this?"

Zexion chuckled as he looked over at his friend. He patted the seat next to him that Demyx had been occupying not two minutes ago. "If memory serves, Axel is still single," he pointed out. "Assuming that he's not already in a relationship with my cousin, though that's doubtful," the bookworm added after a moment.

Roxas flopped down into the seat, grabbed Zexion's book, and tossed it onto the coffee table without regard for the bluenette's place in the book. "Oops," he said with a grin. "And Axel would probably suck as a boyfriend. Like, can you even imagine? He'd probably get all creepy and stuff." Even though Roxas laughed, he couldn't help it when his brain silently supplied that Axel's creepiness (though there really wasn't much) was kind of adorable. The redhead in general was just adorable, but Roxas had already concluded this fact weeks ago.

"So why have you decided to grace me with your presence today, Roxas?"

Immediately, Roxas told Zexion about everything that had happened not even an hour earlier. He explained about Marluxia and Mr. Price and about how there were apparently "others" in this very city.

Zexion remained silent for a few moments as he thought this through before a large grin appeared on his face. "So, if Mr. Price also has an ability, and he says there are others like us, then it stands to reason that he has studied this phenomenon, right? So he probably knows much more about this than we do." The prospect clearly excited the bluenette. He licked his lips before grinning some more. "This is all very interesting. I can't wait until he calls us all together. It's sure to be informative, no doubt."

Easily, Roxas nodded his head in agreement. "Oh, also, when I was talking to Mr. Price and Marluxia, Mr. Price said that you're his favorite student. Just thought you'd like to know."

At this, Zexion looked at Roxas in disbelief.

"Hey, it's true, his forehead even said it! Isn't that sweet?" Roxas snickered as his best friend's face turned pink.

Silently, Zexion flipped the blond the bird, inviting Roxas to tackle him into the couch and then quickly get his ass handed to him due to Zexion's ability to increase his strength to completely crush Roxas'.

"God, Zexion, you're no fun to wrestle with!"

"Well, you made me flustered! I am perfectly fun to wrestle with when I am not flustered!" the bluenette protested.

"Aww, you were flustered? Does Zexy-wexy have a wittle crush on Mr. Price, then?" Roxas teased, earning a pillow to the face.

"Just who do you think I am? Marluxia?" he snorted, though Roxas could tell he was embarrassed. '_I simply admire Mr. Price as a man of science is all._' "He's my favorite teacher, so of course it might render me a bit bashful to hear that I am his favorite student! Especially being that he has probably around 200 students total!"

Roxas laughed. "Oh yeah, that reminds me, though! We have to see if Larxene and Demyx have abilities. I think Marluxia will probably ask Larxene about it, but I think you should ask Demyx. He _is_ your stud-muffin after all."

Zexion scowled at the blond. "Demyx is my _partner_. He is my _boyfriend_, my _other half_, my _better half_, my _significant other_, and my _companion_. Nothing else outside of those words. He's not my stud-muffin, my snuggle-muffin, my sweetie pie, or any of those other disgusting glittery terms of endearment," he snapped.

"Jeez, Zexy, why are you so touchy today? You usually handle teasing much better," the blond observed.

His blue-haired friend let out a sigh and rubbed at his visible eye. "Yeah, I know, I apologize. I've been a bit anxious, I suppose. I think Demyx may be keeping a secret from me, but he insists that he's not. Still, I'm not very convinced. He's been busier than usual lately, and won't explain why," he explained.

In reply, Roxas nodded his head understandingly. If Axel did that it would be extremely frustrating, and Zexion didn't have an ability to help him out in this situation. "That sucks. What do you think it could be?"

"I honestly don't know," the bookworm admitted with a shrug. "The only extra-curricular activities Demyx participates in are swimming and music. But he has no reason to lie about or hide either of those things. I just fear that perhaps he's… no, I shouldn't be thinking that way." Zexion quickly shook his head and wrapped his arms around himself, looking absolutely miserable.

"Zexion, what is it?" Roxas wondered, putting a hand gently to his friends shoulder.

It took a moment for Zexion to look up at his friend. "Well, I'm just slightly afraid that perhaps this relationship will end like my last."

Roxas gave his best friend a puzzled look.

Zexion sighed again. "My last relationship ended quite… strangely, I suppose. It probably happens all the time, but I suppose it's merely strange for the person I was dating? I'm unsure. My last boyfriend, Lexaeus, he grew tired of me, I think. Honestly, I don't know his reasoning behind leaving me, but basically, he just ceased all contact with me randomly without any indication of anything wrong in our relationship. He told me once through a curt text message that he didn't think we should be dating anymore. And that was the end. I was devastated." The bluenette paused and frowned desolately. "I think that maybe I just wasn't good enough for him. To think that I wasn't interesting enough or funny enough or smart enough or old enough or attractive enough or kind enough, to think that I just wasn't _enough_ for him just…" And he trailed off, never quite completing his phrase.

Roxas didn't need him to finish the sentence to get what he meant. He wrapped an arm around his friend and it was then he realized that a tear was trailing down the bluenette's face.

"I just, I worry that I'm not good enough for Demyx either." Zexion's voice sounded heavy, a lump clearly making his words sound a bit more gargled. "Demyx is so much nicer than me and much more attractive and likeable and talented and _interesting_. Why on earth is he even _with_ me? I should stop fooling myself to believe he actually cares for me."

"Shh," Roxas shushed his friend. "I'm sure it's nothing like that. Demyx is crazy about you. His face lights up whenever you so much as look at him. He's so attentive with you and in tune to what you want that it's honestly a little scary. Haven't you realized how eager to please you he is? Why would he be like that if he didn't care about you? Now, I may still be the new kid, and I may not know him as well as you do, but Demyx is far too nice and too, well, I don't want to say it, but dumb, to lead someone on. If he didn't care, he'd have let it slip by now," he pointed out. "Stop worrying so much. You're awesome, Zexion. Seriously. You must be because you're my best friend. The requirement for being my best friend is that you have to be awesome. So yeah, congrats on that."

Zexion gave the blond a small smile before wiping the tears from his face. "Thank you, Roxas. You're probably right. About Demyx, anyway. Because I am certainly _not_ awesome. Might as well start searching for a new best friend."

They talked for a while longer until Zexion decided that he wanted to take the opportunity to study Roxas' ability more. While they didn't make any amazing breakthroughs, Roxas did learn that he could change the size of the words on people's foreheads to see more clearly or to even display two thoughts at once.

Zexion mentioned that he wanted to use his power to improve Roxas', so they spent some time working on that. Unfortunately, it wasn't very successful. This left the bluenette very unsettled and angry and at that point they decided to call it quits so that he wouldn't get too angry.

A little while after their experimentation ended, Axel ended up texting Roxas informing him that he was now off work and could hang out. The blond happily accepted the offer and they wound up at Axel's apartment talking about a variety of things. The smaller boy decided now was a good time to ask his boyfriend about Riku, and when he did, the answer he received intrigued him.

Axel had looked down at him with an uncommon serious look on his face. "I don't talk about Riku because Demyx gets jealous. He hates it because he doesn't understand why Riku and I get along so well. Nobody does. You see, Roxas, there are three types of secrets amongst our group." He held three fingers up before quickly reducing the number to one. "One, secrets only kept from Demyx… for obvious reasons. Two," another finger joined, "secrets that everyone is vaguely aware of but nobody knows for sure. And three," another finger, "Zexion secrets, which are secrets that nobody knows at all, but everyone knows they exist."

Roxas didn't really see why Axel had shifted the conversation, but he was still curious about their group, so he decided to just play along. "What's an example of a 'Zexion secret?'" he wondered.

"My relationship with Riku, of course. Riku and I are best friends. Everyone _knows_ something happened to make us so… connectable, I guess. I can't tell _anyone_, but everyone knows there's something I'm not telling them. I don't know if I'll ever tell. I don't even want to tell you, Roxas. Not yet, anyway. Our relationship is also an example of a Zexion secret. Nobody knows we're together, but everyone knows something happened that got me back on my feet and not hate you after Halloween," the redhead explained.

Honestly, Roxas didn't know how to feel about hearing that Axel was keeping a secret from him and didn't want to tell him what it was. His forehead certainly didn't help. It left him a little unsettled because he didn't quite understand _why_ it had to be a secret. He supposed it couldn't be anything too bad, though, seeing as Axel had fessed up to the fact that something _had _happened, but just couldn't tell him. He could've just as easily lied, the blond supposed. He decided not to push that issue.

"So why is it called a 'Zexion' secret?" Roxas inquired.

The normal, good-natured grin returned to Axel's face, signaling that serious time was now over. "Well, Zexion posed the original secret amongst us all. When he became part of our group, we immediately caught onto the fact that he's a very secretive person. For example, his hair. He's had the same hairstyle since he was really young, as can be seen in family portraits and pictures of family reunions at Riku's house and probably Zexion's too. He's hiding something behind that hair. Most of us think it's either a scar or maybe his other eye's a different color or maybe his face got burned or maybe he's blind in that eye. None of us knows for certain, and if any of us asked, he wouldn't even bother to answer. And then there's the matter of the fact that he was apparently in some sort of relationship last year around this time that he never talks about. No one knows who it was with, how it ended, who ended it, or absolutely anything. Demyx has pried and pried Zexion for the answers, but he just ignores him."

Roxas took a moment to revel in the fact that he _knew_ a Zexion secret, and he knew what had happened. If Zexion hadn't told absolutely anyone, then, well, it made Roxas feel really privileged to have heard the truth. It meant a lot that the bookworm trusted him with that information. "Oh, I get it. So, why exactly do people keep secrets from Demyx?"

In response, Axel went into a fit of laughter. "Because he's a fucking blabbermouth! And more than that, because he gets, well, not hurt I guess, but he's not good at dealing with things. Like, for example, he has no idea that Naminé is not a virgin or that she's had probably three times the amount of sexual partners that Demyx himself has had. And when news of Riku's cancer spreads, he'll be the only one in our group who's out of the loop. And since you're probably gonna ask about the second type of secret because it sounds similar to a Zexion secret, an example of that one would be like Zexion and Demyx's relationship. Unless Zexion told you, you probably don't know that Demyx has had the biggest crush on him since they were like seven or eight or some crazy shit like that which was actually when they first met."

"They knew each other that long ago? I thought Zexion moved here in like seventh grade or something?" Roxas tilted his head in confusion.

"They met when they were really young because Demyx and Riku's parents are friends and Zexion would always go stay with Riku's family just about every summer. The part that's weird is that Zexion never, ever liked Demyx. He was always pushing poor Demy away and even when Zexion moved here and they were older it was still the same way. Demyx practically pissed himself and ran himself ragged trying to get Zexion to notice him. If Zexion had so much opportunity to just accept Demyx's feelings, then why didn't he until just a few months ago? Nobody knows, and of course Demyx isn't complaining." The way Axel spoke, he sounded a little… bitter? Perhaps stale could describe it.

Honestly Roxas couldn't tell if Axel sounded that way because he was worried for Demyx or for some other reason. He decided not to push it and just buried his face in the redhead's chest, for they were cuddling on the couch as this happened.

A few minutes of silence passed before Axel spoke up. "So, Rox, you wanna spend the night? No funny business, I promise. It could be just like last time," Axel offered. He gazed at the blond with the most adorably earnest and pleading look on his face.

His blond counterpart couldn't help but grin in response. Roxas gave the redhead a nice peck and held his boyfriend's face delicately in his hands. "You're so cute when you make that face," the blond cooed in the baby voice Axel usually used on him.

Not liking that one bit, Axel scowled. "There, I fixed it," he informed the younger boy. "Now answer me!" he demanded.

Roxas laughed at the fact that Axel's forehead simply displayed a chorus of 'say yes.' "Fine," he conceded, "I think I have to. If I said no, you might've offed yourself." He chuckled when Axel's nose brushed against his cheek as the older teen kissed him. His chuckles escalated when the redhead's hands wormed their way under his clothes and began tickling him, forcing him to kick at the older boy's chest.

"Get off me, you asshole!" Roxas cried between guffaws.

Axel merely gave a wicked grin and peppered the blond's face in kisses before continuing to rub at his poor, sensitive ribs. "Who's a cutie pie now, hm Rox?"

Suddenly, Roxas turned the table on the taller teen by smacking his long arms away and straddling the redhead on the couch, pinning him there with his arms at his sides. "Oh yeah!" Roxas exclaimed in a sudden bout of remembrance. "So, as it turns out, Marluxia and Mr. Price both have special abilities. And apparently there are others, so we're all going to be called to have a meeting together. So, yeah. That's a thing that's happening."

The redhead looked a little perplexed. "No shit," he murmured, though not sarcastically. He took a moment to process this before a definite emotion of understanding overtook his face. "So everyone has powers, basically?"

"Well, Marluxia's gonna ask Larxene, and I assume that Zexion is gonna ask Demyx. By the way, do you know what's up with Dem lately? Zexy's all worried because he thinks Demyx might be cheating on him or something."

The redhead sighed and looked down at his stomach. He clearly didn't want to divulge the information, but it looked like something within him made him want to oblige. "Look, if I tell you, you gotta promise not to tell Zexion, okay? Demyx really doesn't want him to find out. Promise?" He offered his pinky to the blond after managing to free his arm from the confines of Roxas' hold on him.

Roxas eagerly locked his pinky with Axel's. "Axel, secrets are kinda my thing. I can deal."

"Right. Well, basically Demyx wants to go to this really nice, high-end music school after high school's over. It's probably the best music school in the nation and it's been his dream to go to that school since he was little and first learning to play the ukulele."

"That sounds completely normal. What's the big deal?"

"Babe, it's across the country."

"Oh."

"Anyway, the reason why Dem's been so busy lately is he's trying to get all his shit together. He's been practicing with his instruments more and looking at the requirements. Basically, he's already started applying to the school. He could probably get in without a formal application because his parents are so rich, but you know that rich kid stereotype. They wanna get things for themselves to prove they aren't just riding their parents' coattails. But yeah. He's hoping to have everything ready to be sent in by the time they start accepting applications in the fall. He doesn't want Zexion to know because he doesn't want to upset him by bringing up the fact that he's gonna be going off to college far away in like a year and a few months."

"Yeah, I get it." Roxas nodded. "This is probably annoying, but what about you?"

"What about me?" Axel tilted his head.

"What are you gonna do after high school? I mean, I know we get asked that by pretty much everyone, but I don't remember ever hearing about what you plan to do once you graduate," the blond elaborated.

Axel sighed and rolled his eyes. "I have absolutely no fucking idea. I kinda don't wanna leave Radiant Garden since I've grown up here and all, but at the same time, I kinda wanna leave home. I don't know where I want to go to college, or what I want to do, or if I can even afford college. And with Dem gone, and Marluxia and Larxene pretty much out of here at that point or at least doing something else, I don't know if moving out of Reno's place and getting a roommate somewhere else in the city would even work out."

The blond nodded before decided to just lie down on top of his other half, tucking his head just beneath the redhead's chin. "Mhmm," he hummed, "I know what you mean. Do you know where Marluxia or Larxene want to go? They're graduating this year, so they've already had to have applied to colleges, right?"

"I don't know," Axel mumbled, shrugging his shoulders beneath the blond. He wrapped his arms around the boy on his chest and kissed the top of his head before continuing. "I doubt Larxene will leave. She's plenty smart and all, but she's pretty poor. She's not the best at saving and her dad would rather blow the money on beer for right now than education for her later. I think she'll probably go to the community college and get a job while she figures out what she wants to do. As for Marluxia, his grades are actually really good, despite the fact that he seems kinda lazy with that sort of thing. I think school just comes naturally to him and I think he likes the thought of having a stack of work and then just powering through it all."

"I think Marluxia's said that he either wants to go into business or science. The science thing sounds like it comes from Mr. Price, but I mean, it's his best subject and he said he wanted to go into botany, and that's not something Mr. Price studied. I think Mr. Price studied biochemistry in college."

"It kinda fits him," the blond commented with a shrug. "But I could totally see him working as a CEO or VP of sales for some huge corporate company with just a shitload of plants in his office. And he asks his assistant to water them with a spray bottle before going in to hump him and having sex on his desk."

Axel laughed at that. "Yup, that's definitely something Marly would do. Though I'm not so sure Mr. Price would be on board. Their feelings seem pretty mutual. Plus, I don't think Marly would ever cheat on someone, much less Mr. Price. He's got a good head when it comes to not making stupid mistakes like that."

"Oh yeah! I never told you Marly or Mr. Price's powers. Marluxia releases some sort of pheromone and he can basically charm anyone. And Mr. Price can control the weather. Which explains why it's always so goddamn cold all the time."

Again, Axel laughed and gingerly kissed Roxas' head once more. When the snickers subsided, he began speculating aloud. "It makes me wonder, though. Like, has Marluxia ever used it on one of us? Or on Mr. Price?"

Roxas shrugged and scrunched up his nose in reply even though Axel couldn't see it. "I doubt it. It's kind of obvious when he uses it. He begs and pouts like normal people do. Like, he used it on that doctor at the hospital to convince her to let everyone stay in the room. Well, I mean, he most likely did, anyway. He did a demonstration for me today on this waitress at this café and it looked exactly the same. Mr. Price was not pleased."

"Yeesh, I can imagine. And more importantly, you've been hanging out with Marluxia unsupervised? Roxas, that's like asking to be molested! He would've fucked Demyx and myself on multiple occasions if we both didn't have impeccable timing to come in and save each other! He may be our Papa, but he has nothing against incest. Though I can't be upset with his taste in men. I am pretty irresistible."

The blond laughed, but decided to rain on his dear darling boyfriend's parade by flicking at him blindly, managing to get his nose in a stroke of good luck. "I wasn't unsupervised; Mr. Price was there the whole time! They only had eyes for each other and I think Marluxia might've started drooling at some point. It was rather disgusting. Right now, Marly's probably too into him to even get it up for anyone else. I bet he's abandoned Blueboy and moved into old Radiant Garden Union High School yearbooks."

"Grody!" Axel whined. "Well," he chirped after pretending to gag, "as long as he's keeping his hands off what's rightfully mine, we're all good. Right, baby?" He cooed the last bit hotly into Roxas' ear.

"Fuck you, you suck, go away, stop touching meee," the blond whined in protest as he swatted at the redhead's face.

Instead of heeding his words and backing off, Axel ran his tongue along the outer shell of Roxas' ear before gently biting at tugging at it.

In a matter of seconds, Roxas went breathless and he had to wonder if that was healthy because essentially, Axel had just knocked the wind out of him with his mouth. "Axel," the younger boy protested, "what if Reno comes home?"

"He's not coming home. He called me before you got here and it turns out he's gonna sleep at work 'cause he's working overtime and is basically going to be too tired and lazy to drive home. So we're clear. So we can absolutely anything at all," Axel murmured huskily into his blond counterpart's ear.

"Umm…" Roxas mumbled, suddenly at a loss for words as the redhead began running his hands slowly down his spine. His cheeks burned and he wrapped his arms around his boyfriend's neck, digging gently against the couch's material. "What happened to no funny business?" he wondered breathlessly.

"Well, I mean, I can stop anytime you want me to, but I just thought we could have some fun. Any objections?" And then he ran his fingers through the blond's hair and Roxas forgot how to think.

Without responding, Roxas latched his mouth onto Axel's neck and began kissing roughly at it. He let out a whimper when the redhead returned the gesture with the addition of a nice butt-squeeze. The blond decided to up the ante with a nice hair-tug and a nip to the neck. Much to his pleasure, Roxas received an enthused groan in return.

"Fuck, Rox, I hate you so much," Axel growled.

Roxas pulled away momentarily to whine out, "Aww, why?" Then he kissed the junction of Axel's jaw and neck.

"It's like you just flip a switch and my penis is like 'yeah, let's fucking roll,' and just, fuck! You're too hot, okay?"

The blond had to stop to giggle at that. "Sure, whatever you say, fire crotch," he said in his most unconvinced voice. He was about to continue with attacking the redhead's neck, but Axel stopped him in lieu of pulling him upwards and then back down so he could crash their lips together in a hungry kiss. Then, Axel scooted out from under the blond and draped him over his shoulder before standing to fully height, keeping a hand on Roxas' ass to stabilize him.

"Wow, Roxas, I never thought I'd ever say this to anyone, but your dick is kind of poking into my shoulder," the older teen mused as he quickly made his way to his bedroom.

Roxas scoffed but didn't respond otherwise. He couldn't hold back the gasp and the whimper that left his lips when Axel threw him roughly down onto his bed. He'd landed on his back with his knees colliding against his chest. Before he could even right himself, Axel was on top of him, pinning him down flat and kissing the absolute shit out of him.

"Jeez, Ax, can you be a little rougher?" the blond sneered between pants when Axel had finally ceased his attack and was now pacing madly around his room while Roxas still lay out on the bed. He couldn't help but wonder why Axel was so worked up.

"Sorry, Roxas, I'm sorry," he mumbled somewhat angrily. He finally stopped and turned to face the blond, scratching at his scalp frenziedly. "Sorry about this. Sometimes I just…" he paused to scratch some more. "You just drive me crazy, and I know I said no funny business and now I feel kind of guilty because I don't want you to feel pressured to do something with me because I think you sometimes feel bad for turning me down, and it's just, right now I want to fuck you so badly but I know you don't want that and, ugh, I'm sorry," he quickly explained. He seemed calmer now.

It took a moment for the weight of Axel's words to reach Roxas, but when it did, he wanted to fan himself overenthusiastically and basically freak out in the fangirliest fashion he could think of because, damn was Axel the most considerate mother fucker on the planet. Instead of doing that, though, Roxas smiled up at his boyfriend before finally righting himself on the bed so that his head was on top of the redhead's pillow. Then he gave the redhead a mischievous grin and lifted his shirt a little bit to expose his tummy. "Touch me," he begged.

As if under a trance, Axel stared at him momentarily before he heeded Roxas' wishes and practically dove at him, kissing him everywhere he could reach and running his hands over every bit of the boy beneath him they could find.

Roxas groaned at the sudden affection and buried his fingers in Axel's hair to help ground him on earth. The mass amount of pleasure made him forget that he should probably be reciprocating the touches and the caresses, so he just lie their squirming under the older teen's hands and mouth. He breathed in the redhead's ashy scent as his hands lowered from Axel's hair to his back, where he clutched at the fabric of his shirt and held it tightly under his whitening knuckles. Somehow, Roxas managed to hook his legs around his boyfriend's waist even through his lust-filled haze and he let out a louder moan than he'd have liked to when Axel discovered a particularly sensitive area where his collarbone and his shoulder met and decided to bite down on it.

"Ooh," the redhead murmured in a very intrigued voice before repeating the action.

This time, Roxas managed to bite down on his bottom lip, only allowing a small whimper to escape.

"Roxy, don't hide your lovely voice," Axel chided him, finally pulling back so they could lock eyes.

Silently, Roxas scowled up at the redhead. He ground his hips upwards against his significant other and resisted the urge to groan at the friction.

Axel, however, was caught unawares and let out an absolutely full-blown moan. The redhead panted down at him with the most unamused look on his face. "Fine, I see how it is." And then he gripped Roxas' shirt at the bottom and began tugging it upwards, revealing the pale skin of his torso beneath.

Almost automatically, Roxas' arms stretched upwards to aid Axel in the removal of his shirt. "Ax, no sex, only touching. Got it memorized?" Roxas reminded him after the shirt was out of the way. He grinned at his boyfriend.

"Hardy har har," Axel sneered. "And don't worry, I know. Now, please shut your dirty, whore mouth while I enjoy the view." Thus, he began gazing at Roxas' shirtless body whilst the blond blushed and tried to cover himself a little bit, only to have Axel remove his hands from the 'view.' "Babe, I don't know why you're being so bashful, you have a nice body."

"How about we put you on equal ground and make this even. Then you can see how it is!" Roxas growled as he began tugging at Axel's shirt.

Axel gave a good-natured smirk before removing the article of clothing and putting his hands on his hips as he posed for the boy under him. "Feast your eyes upon the glory that is my wiry frame."

Roxas had to chuckle at that and he admired the redhead's confidence in himself. Roxas had always been fairly comfortable with his body, but when Axel had been staring at him like that, like it was more than just his body, like it was something to be valued, he just couldn't help but turn bashful. He ended up doing as Axel had said and 'feasting his eyes' upon his torso. He tried to imprint the image of the redhead's bare chest in his brain. Even if Axel wasn't particularly muscular, it didn't bother Roxas. He just thought it great that he got to see such a sight. It was also great because it was Axel and this was like him sharing a secret with the blond.

"Shall we continue?" Axel offered.

So they did continue, caressing, kissing, grinding, and touching each other. At one point, Axel brought their members together and jacked the both of them off at the same time, which was definitely very nice. By the end of their sexual adventure, Axel had managed to get off three times while Roxas capped out at twice. Currently, they cuddled in Axel's bed covered in the result of their dirty deeds.

"Roxas, why do you have to be so cute and sexy all of the time?" the redhead wondered, kissing his cheek.

Roxas blushed and shrugged, trying not to smile so goofily. "Why do you have to be so hot and adorable, hm?" he countered, kissing his nose.

"Well, damn, I guess you got me there." Axel nodded understandingly before giving Roxas that shit-eating grin of his.

"Fuck you!" The blond laughed in response and buried his face into Axel's bare chest. They went silent for a while, allowing Roxas to revel in the absolute comfort and happiness being with the redhead brought him. Being with Axel made Roxas not only feel happy, but it also calmed his nerves, relaxed him, and made him feel better about himself. Things with Axel were just so easy and so natural. He took a moment to wonder if his relationships with his ex-girlfriends had ever been this fulfilling, but quickly discarded the thought when he realized that that was a ridiculous notion. If he'd ever felt so strongly for either of them as he did for Axel, then they wouldn't be his exes.

While lying there, clinging to the redhead with their seed drying on their stomachs and even a little on their chests, Roxas realized that his sweater no longer smelled like Axel as he inhaled the origin of the desired aroma. After a couple weeks of being away from its original owner, it had lost its scent. He decided to swap it for one of Axel's other sweaters later when the redhead wasn't looking.

"Hey, Rox, we should probably get cleaned up soon," Axel pointed out after they'd been cuddling for about five minutes.

With a sigh, Roxas pulled away from Axel's chest and kissed his chin gently. "Yeah, I guess you're right." He took a moment to stretch in his shirtless glory before sitting up. Axel followed suit not long after.

"You can take a shower if you want. I could lend you some clothes and wash yours for you. I think you got cum on your pants, so washing them might be a good idea," the redhead informed him as he stood up and began digging around in the drawers of his dresser.

"You sure?" Roxas wondered. The only other person's house he'd ever taken a shower at was Hayner's, so he felt a little apprehensive about the idea. Not that he thought Axel would try to sneak a peek. He supposed it was mostly because of the newness of the idea.

"Yeah, sure, go ahead. I'll see if I can produce some sort of dinner or something. Here," the redhead tossed him a shirt and a pair of basketball shorts, "they might be a little big, but whatever. Just leave your other pants on the floor outside the bathroom when you undress so I can wash them."

Roxas had never seen this side of Axel before, and it interested him. He disregarded the strange behavior as he proceeded to the bathroom with the clothes Axel had given him and followed the redhead's instructions obediently. While standing under the spray of the shower, Roxas realized that he had to use Axel's bathing supplies. With a smile, he popped open the body wash sitting on a little alcove in the wall next to the other supplies. The smell of Axel emanated from the bottle and Roxas probably spent five minutes just lathering himself with the stuff and just reveling in the fact that everything smelled like Axel and nothing hurt.

The rest of the evening went fairly smoothly. Axel made them macaroni and cheese and then they watched TV and had ice cream for dessert. They decided to turn in at about midnight and Roxas really enjoyed himself. Not all was well, though. Unfortunately, during their passionate performances earlier, they'd left each other a fair amount of love bites. Embarrassingly enough, Axel had more than Roxas, and the redhead teased him about it endlessly.

Most of the love bites the blond had resided in areas that could easily be hidden by clothes. Unfortunately, one stupid blotch of post-love syndrome sat right on the side of his neck. It didn't pose much of a problem _now_, but it would when Roxas went home. He disregarded the thought for now and texted Cloud to inform him that he would be spending the night at a friend's house.

* * *

><p>The next morning, Roxas managed to successfully switch out Axel's green sweater for a blue one. He noticed, of course, when Roxas went home in one of his other sweaters, Roxas could tell, but he didn't say anything about it. His forehead expressed extreme smugness, but the blond chose to ignore it.<p>

As Axel drove Roxas home the next evening at around six (for they'd hung out a bit after waking up), the blond realized that the sheer force of the feelings he felt for Axel scared him a little. Even when he saw that the redhead had texted him, his heart skipped a beat and his chest began to hurt (in a good way). He wondered when exactly he'd gotten so into the redhead and where he decided that any and all free time they both had should be spent together. Roxas had never felt like this about anyone before. His ex-girlfriends couldn't even hold a measly match to the way he felt for Axel, much less a candle.

Spending so much time with Axel and feeling so strongly for him, though, left Roxas feeling weird and like he was in an awkward position. Not that he necessarily thought that enjoying the taste of his boyfriend's face was bad. It just felt so wrong to believe he was legitimately beginning to love the guy when only Hayner, Reno, and Riku knew they were even together. He couldn't share or be open about the fact that he thought Axel was one cool guy at home because Sora got all testy about it and Cloud worried about him giving his secret boyfriend false hope. And that felt wrong.

Few knew of Roxas' sexual preference, so that already blocked out the possibility. He felt helpless, in all honesty. Coming out to his family, who were the only people he was honestly worried about finding out, would lead to even more tension than there already was, he could feel it. It didn't even seem like a viable option for him because he just felt so discouraged. Sora would definitely back him up 100%. Cloud and Tifa on the other hand…

Tifa already disliked Roxas for some reason he didn't know and she never shared. Coming out of the closet to her might lead to her thinking that he just wanted more attention. If she did believe him, she might even think he was disgusting. If her past behavior towards him was already so rude, then how would she treat him once she knew that both her sons were gay and that she likely wouldn't be getting any biological grandchildren? Because if Sora decided to come out with him, it would automatically be his fault.

Cloud was a different story. Roxas didn't know how he would react to such news. When he heard that Axel was gay, he seemed pretty shaken, and he hadn't even known the redhead all that well. Would he feel betrayed that his own son had never shared with him? Or would he be freaked out because his son didn't fall into the societal norm? He doubted his father would be hateful about it. More than likely, he would distance himself from the problem and try not to talk about it. Roxas didn't want to think of that, however, because in a way, even the idea seemed like abandonment in the blond's head. He needed at least _one_ of his parents' love, and he definitely wasn't getting his mother's. Having someone so important to him like him and accept him meant the world to him. He wasn't sure what he would do if his father yanked back that love and acceptance.

Luckily, Axel managed to pull the blond out of these scary thoughts to inform him that they'd arrived at his house. Roxas smiled at his boyfriend before giving him a nice kiss goodbye and thanking him for the nice time.

When Roxas entered his home, he could smell dinner and hear Sora's muffled voice blabbering in the dining room. He smiled a big goofy smile because he'd honestly just had one of the best days he'd had in a long time and he loved absolutely everything, and now he got to go eat dinner with his family and listen to Sora yammer on and on. He proceeded to enter the kitchen to pick up his plate and then sat down at the table where the rest of his family appeared to have just started eating.

Sora greeted him cordially and his father kind of nodded hello, but his mother just kept eating. Sora immediately did a double take upon seeing the blond and everyone at the table quieted down and just kind of looked at him.

Realizing the strange quietness, Roxas looked up from his plate and at his family with a confused look on his face.

"Roxas, what's that on your neck?" Cloud asked cautiously.

Immediately, the blond's heart started pounding at his chest and he smacked a hand to the spot on his neck. He had forgotten about the love bite. He felt his face grow hot and he found himself unable to break his gaze away from his father's. "Um… it's a, um, it's a hickey?" He was too frazzled to lie.

Everyone just kind of stared at him and honestly it was starting to creep Roxas the fuck out.

"So you're telling me that you went and spent the night at a "friend's" house and then you come home the next day with a hickey? Am I correct?" Cloud asked. It sounded like a rhetorical question, and Roxas had no idea if he was actually supposed to respond.

"Umm, yeah. I spent the night at a friend's house and now I have a hickey." Without a second thought, Roxas tried to make it sound better for himself. "But it's not like we had sex or anything! I mean, a little love bite doesn't automatically mean that I had sex. I mean, come on, you can get hickeys kind of easily! Remember the time Sora gave me hickeys?"

Cloud narrowed his eyes in an "I am having none of your shit today, Roxas" kind of way. He didn't respond to that part, however. "Who gave you that mark? Are you dating her? Do we know her?"

"Um, it was Naminé?" Really, lying and blaming Naminé had become too natural for him. He couldn't be bothered with that right now, however. "I'm not dating her we were just… we were… we played truth or dare?" Roxas fibbed. "It was one of those phone apps, you know? So we just played for a while and she had to give me a hickey."

Fortunately Cloud seemed to accept this as the truth. "Alright. You know, I like Naminé. She's a nice girl, and cute, too."

Thankful that he'd managed to trick his father, Roxas nodded and smiled. "Yeah, she's great."

Unfortunately, Sora seemed utterly unconvinced. He gave Roxas this very uncharacteristic, dark look that said he didn't believe of word he said. His forehead already blamed Axel.

He decided he would deal with that later. Right now, his happiness just seeped through and he was a happy, goofy mess at the dinner table. Every time he thought of the way Axel had looked so sincere when he'd stopped ravishing him, he just couldn't help but want to giggle and blush like a maniac. Every second, he felt more of himself falling deeper and deeper into the well of love he had for Axel. Every moment, he drew closer to hitting water, the water marking the point of actual love. There was no escape in sight, but… Roxas didn't mind that one bit.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **And the plot thickens. God, this is ugh.

Okay, I have a question for you lovely person reading this. Is it better if I have lots of smaller chapters around 4k words or chapters like this? This is around 9k words. The longer ones will take more time, but I feel like we've gotten a lot further? No we haven't I'm lying I'm sorry.

I just feel like there's so much that needs to happen, and I just love writing all the little moments where they interact and ughhh I don't know what I should be aiming for. Can someone please provide a little insight? Do you like the way I write the little moments or do you prefer that I skip over them in lieu of the plot? What's your opinion?

Loved it hated it or you're bored and need someone to talk to, hit me up with a review because oh gosh that would be lovely. Or you could alert and fave but you know, you do what you do. I don't judge.


	28. Pillow Talk is Officially Over

**A/N: **Hello here is a new chapter. It's pretty long. School's started back up but I actually still have a nice chunk of time to write because of early dismissal. So updates might become more regular now that I have some sort of time set aside to get work done c:

Anyway, thanks to everyone who reviewed, faved, alerted! I really appreciate the input and you're all perfect little dumplins!

Enjoy the chapter~

Kingdom Hearts © Disney and Enix

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><p>"So who <em>really<em> gave you that hickey? And don't you dare give me that crap about Naminé! It might be enough to fool Mom and Dad, but not me!" Sora accused a couple of hours after dinner.

The twins relaxed in their room, Roxas getting dressed in his night clothes and Sora sitting on the bed waiting for Roxas to help him with his pants. Roxas had decided to watch TV for a while after dinner to avoid having this discussion with Sora. He spent the time thinking up good excuses, but decided he would probably be okay if he was vague enough so that the brunet would at least be satisfied.

"I bet it was Axel, wasn't it? Did Axel give you that hickey?" He froze for a second when the blond took off his shirt, revealing the other love bites. "Oh my god, Roxas, look at your body! How many of those things do you have?" Sora began to panic and his face grew red, whether from sheepishness or anger, Roxas didn't know. "You didn't have sex, did you? Did you have sex with Axel?"

Roxas scoffed at Sora's hysteria. "Jeez, calm down, Sora, will you? I didn't have sex with anyone!" he asserted. "And the guy who gave it to me, well, maybe it's the same guy I went on that not-date with. Ever consider that?"

That seemed to stun Sora for a second, and his demeanor quickly changed. He seemed much less angry and much more curious and excited. "Well who _is_ this guy? Is it the same one you spent the night with after Thanksgiving? Do I know him? Is he a nice guy? Can I meet him, Roxy? Oh, please, please, can I meet him? Why haven't you told me who he is yet?" he begged.

"You don't know him," the blond replied with a smile. The fact that Sora so quickly abandoned the notion that Axel had anything to do with his hickeys made him want to laugh, but he kept his cool. "And maybe I want to keep it that way. We all know how excited you get about relationships. You went completely gaga over my two girlfriends and now you're absolutely obsessed with Zexion and Demyx's relationship. And you're not exactly quiet about it, either! Plus, how do I know you won't hate him like you hate Axel?"

"What's the big deal with being loud about celebrating the love surrounding me? It's not like it hurts anyone! And you wouldn't date anyone as jerky as Axel. You have good judgment, Roxy." Sora let out a surprised yelp when his twin pushed him back onto the bottom bunk and began assisting him in changing his pants over the casts.

Roxas sighed. "It's just that I don't want you to scare him off, and anyway, maybe he _is_ like Axel. I mean, you don't know it, but Axel's a really cool guy. He might be kind of a douchebag, but I'm kind of a douchebag, too. Plus, we get along really well, and he's really nice if you get past his douche-y exterior." '_And I think I'm falling in love with him_,' Roxas didn't say. The very thought of the L-word made Roxas flush a little. He felt stupid for having such a reaction to a word he'd merely thought of, but when he pictured Axel being his considerate, attractive self, it made him feel even more sheepish and embarrassed.

Sora didn't respond for a little while. He waited until he had his pajama shorts on before he spoke. "You know, Riku told me that Axel's actually his best friend. I thought _I_ was Riku's best friend." His serious tone scared Roxas a bit. Absolutely no trace of positive or even angry emotion existed in his voice. He simply said it in a serious, slightly somber manner.

Gently, Roxas lie down next to his twin on the bottom bunk and wrapped his arms around Sora's torso, cuddling up against his chest. "Aw, it's okay, Sora. People can have more than one best friend. Plus, compare how often you and Riku hang out with how often he and Axel do. Axel's usually at work or hanging out with me and our friends. And come ooon, Riku's totally into you! And it must not be a big deal if Riku didn't bring it up till now." Roxas didn't really know how much was too much to tell Sora. He didn't want to get the brunet's hopes up too high for now since Riku had to deal with a lot for the time being.

Sora just nodded. "We've never cuddled like this before. I feel like we're having pillow talk after sex." The spark in the brunet's eyes returned and he smiled his usual Sora smile.

"Oh yeah, of course. I'm pretty sure you're the one who gave me all these hickeys. You couldn't keep your fucking mouth off my gorgeous man meats!" Roxas chuckled.

His twin laughed heartily and grinned. "Well, can you blame me? Have you _seen_ yourself shirtless, Roxy? Absolutely gorge. Like, fo' real, though."

It was Roxas' turn to laugh. "Hey, don't forget to give yourself some credit. You _did_ manage to get me in bed with you, you smooth talker, you."

Sora's cheeks turned red, and he said in little more than a whisper, "Just gave my bitch a bed. Bitches love beds."

Roxas immediately raised his head to stare at his twin, shock apparent on his face. "No way! You just cussed for fun! And on purpose! You weren't even angry!"

Sora blushed more.

"I'm telling Mom and Dad! Holy shit, I'm telling _Riku_! He'll never want to kiss your dirty, tainted piehole!"

"Shut up!" the brunet laughed. "You wouldn't tell Mom and Dad because then I'd just tell them you cuss, too! And where do you think I _learned_ these words? The tooth fairy? And it's not like Riku never cusses!"

"While I have no idea what the correlation is between the tooth fairy and learning new words, I _am_ mildly concerned about Riku cussing around you. Do you feel safe with him? Does he ever touch you inappropriately? Does he tell you things like 'Fuck bitches, get money'?"

Sora's entire face turned red and he slapped a hand to it in an attempt to hide his embarrassment. Through his embarrassment, he still laughed. "_No!_ They're all false! And I _meant _I learned the words from _you_! And Riku doesn't really cuss that much, not around me, at least. But hanging out with Riku is nice because I can say whatever I want and he never makes a big deal about it. So if I occasionally utter a dirty word, he doesn't point and laugh and threaten to tell Mom. Riku's just so perfect… Ugh, why isn't he _mine_?" the brunet whined.

Unhappy with this sudden shift of mood, Roxas reached an arm over his head to pinch Sora's cheeks. "Don't you worry, cutie pie. One day, he _will_ be yours. You just gotta believe!"

A sigh was the only response.

"You know, Sora, falling in love is a lot like flying. You just gotta believe in it. If you don't, you'll fall flat on your pretty face," the blond murmured wistfully to his twin as he retracted his arm and put it back around the brunet's torso.

At this, Sora giggled. "You know, that sounds kinda right. I believe in Riku and I believe one day we'll be together. I don't know much of anything, Roxy, but I do know that Riku and I have a special connection. He has this whole personality that he never lets anyone see except for me. There's probably more to him that he hides even from me, but I guess I'm just happy to know that he at least sees me as more than a friend or acquaintance. He trusts me. That feels good, you know? And that's why I believe in us."

"Aww, so _cute_; getting all mushy talking about Riku!" Roxas cooed to him in a sickeningly sweet voice. "In fact, I'm gonna text him right now and tell him what you just said!"

Without a moment's hesitation, Sora brought his hand down on his brother's face. A smack resonated through the room. "You wouldn't _dare_!" he hissed threateningly.

"Ow! Fuckin' jerk! God, I'm gonna go sleep on _my_ bunk. Pillow talk is officially over!" When Roxas tried to get up, however, Sora held him down.

"No, no, no! You can't threaten me like that and then cry foul when I lash back at you!" he whined with a pout firmly rooted to his face. "Come on, Roxy, let's have a slumber party. I won't give you anymore hickeys, I promise! I'll even kiss your wound better!"

With a sigh and a roll of the eyes, Roxas caved. "Fine," he drawled, "but only if you kiss it better."

Sora giggled and held his twin's head in place as he strained his own head downwards and kissed the blond's cheek. "There. All better. Now go turn off the lights and we shall sleep together the way twins were meant to. Not in the twincestuous way."

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><p>At around 4:30PM the next day, Roxas found himself lying in Zexion's bed while the bluenette wrote in a journal at the small desk of his pushed into the corner of the room by the door. The blond didn't know what he could be writing, but he was too focused on texting Riku as well as Marluxia to really care. Riku had started the conversation with Roxas, informing him that Melanie, the girl he'd been dating due to her blackmailing him, had dumped him and moved onto her next target. Though Roxas didn't really want to bring it up, he couldn't help but ask about if he'd done anything about his supposed skin cancer yet.<p>

Roxas felt a little relief wash over him when the silverette told him that he'd already alerted his parents to the possibility. He was supposed to go into the hospital to get a biopsy performed within the next two weeks. He admitted he wanted to go earlier rather than later, but he didn't want to miss any swim practice because he thought that would look too suspicious.

Marluxia began texting Roxas about twenty minutes before Riku and did so to enlighten Roxas on the fact that Larxene also had a special ability, but more than that, he said he was bored of her. He confessed that, as much as he loved hearing all the hot gossip in school, he sometimes just got tired of hearing it all because the drama was relatively the same. It surprised Roxas to know that even the one person most suited to handle Larxene grew bored of her. Marluxia explained that he hungered for more intelligent conversation very strongly and in random spurts. The pinkette explained how he just wished Larxene would stop her yammering or Vexen would call and they could discuss more interesting topics. The older boy even went so far as to say he'd even be more willing to talk to Zexion than Larxene, which meant a lot coming from him.

From his time getting to know Marluxia since his arrival in Radiant Garden, the blond had learned that the pinkette still didn't like Zexion very much despite the fact that his attitude had begun to improve over time. He explained that the bluenette just seemed so unhappy in general that it bothered him because he knew he, especially him of all people, could do absolutely nothing about it. He hated the thought of a friend being so depressed to the core and him being helpless to it. By unhappy and depressed, Marluxia elaborated that even though he seemed happier these days, there was no erasing whatever had happened to him in the past and he wasn't putting up a happy front so much as just piling happy feelings on top of the bad in an attempt to bury them.

After that conversation, Roxas had grown more respect for Marluxia. The pinkette was such a terrific friend, and his bluntness with Roxas, despite knowing that he and the bookworm were best friends, impressed him.

A lull in the stream of texting reached Roxas and he took the time to glance over at his blue-haired friend. He had his eyes set on the paper in a focused and somewhat dreamy way. The softness in his expression intrigued the blond and he realized that Zexion's writings couldn't have been for a homework assignment or even reporting findings about their powers.

"Hey, Zexy," Roxas mumbled to his companion as he stood up and approached the desk, "what are you writing?" He looked over the bookworm's scrawling, fancy handwriting.

The sound of the blond's voice startled Zexion, and he looked up at the boy. Fear immediately appeared on his face as he hastily slammed the journal closed. "I-it's nothing!" he exclaimed. His fear turned to anger and he narrowed his eyes at his friend. "You didn't read anything, did you?"

Roxas gave him a shit-eating grin. He hadn't seen much, but he had seen one phrase that put the puzzle pieces in place. "Oh, nothing significant. Well, except that line that said something about being a fish swimming through sea-green eyes. Weird, I wonder who you could've been talking about?" He put his thumb and forefinger to his chin thoughtfully.

Zexion scowled and smacked the blond in the chest. "You're insufferable, Roxas. Please leave my house."

"So, you like to write creatively, then? I knew you like to read, but you like to write too?" Roxas questioned, his attitude more subdued.

"Yes, I really enjoy writing. It helps me think things through sometimes. Other times, it is simply a form of expression where I can be completely free. That kind of liberation is important to me," the bluenette explained.

"Well, how come you never told me about your writing before? I mean, if you like it so much, shouldn't I, your best friend, know what makes you happy?" Roxas pretended to sound offended as he flopped back onto Zexion's bed.

"Well writing is a very private thing for me. It's extremely intimate. Like I said, it's liberating. In order to liberate me of my worries, well, I must express things I don't enjoy talking about."

"So does that mean I can't read any of your writing? Come on, I get best friend privileges, right?" Roxas jokingly begged. He really did want to read some of the bookworm's writing, but he didn't want to make him feel pressured to. Zexion didn't even respond to peer pressure that way. He grew more hostile than weak when people pressured him to do anything.

Zexion grinned. "You already know the answer to that. That aside, I doubt you'd enjoy reading my gushing about what a magnificent person Demyx is. Embarrassingly enough, I sound like a brainless high school girl whenever I babble about him."

"Aw, but Zexy, you babbling about Demy is cute!" the blond informed him. "The fact that your insides turn to mush when you think about him and lose all brainpower means you looove him."

The response was a scoff, but nothing more. The bluenette didn't really know how to respond to that.

In a flash of brilliance, Roxas recalled the conversation he had with Axel about Demyx's and Zexion's relationship. "Hey, Zexy, Axel told me that Demyx has liked you since you were little, but you never liked him back until recently. What's the deal with that?" he wondered.

There was a silence, which prompted Roxas to glance over at Zexion, who seemed to be elsewhere, thinking. He picked up his journal and clutched at it tightly before slowly turning to the blond, a pained look etched onto his face. No letters or words appeared on his forehead. He didn't respond, just shook his head, held tighter to the leather-bound notebook, and turned around.

"Zexion?" Concern flooded Roxas and he watched his friend carefully.

"Axel's a piece of shit," the bookworm murmured. "And that information is nobody's business but my own. Don't listen to that redheaded demon."

"Okay, we don't have to talk about it. Have you asked Demyx at all if he has a special ability, too?" the blond quickly changed the subject. The fact that Zexion really didn't want to talk about why he didn't start dating Demyx sooner worried him, though. Why would the bluenette act that way? He'd never seen Zexion act so coldly before, and he definitely didn't like it.

Zexion's grip on the journal loosened, and he smiled a little bit. "Yes, I did, actually. He refused to tell me what he can do because he wants to do a demonstration for everyone. I already informed him about our situation, by the way. Did Marluxia ever mention when we were supposed to meet with those others? I simply cannot wait," the bluenette said. Then he continued on in a hushed murmur, "Finally, after years of hiding my special abilities, I find out there are others like me…" He looked up at Roxas. "You understand the feeling, don't you?"

Roxas nodded at that before slipping his phone out of his pocket compulsively. He found that Marluxia and Riku had both responded back to his texts and began answering Riku's first. "Yeah, I get it. Unfortunately, Marluxia hasn't told me anything about what's going on. It kind of sucks that we have not just one, but two middle men between us and them."

"Are you texting him now? If so, you should inquire about that meeting he spoke of. I think I'd be more at ease if there was a set date for our meeting. At least things would seem more like they're progressing. Waiting around in the dark is no fun." Zexion placed the journal on his desk and sat down again to continue with the prose he was writing about Demyx.

Marluxia's text contained a picture of him sitting next to Larxene, him looking at the camera and pouting and Larxene totally out of it, mouth open in mid-sentence. The accompanying caption read 'Get me out of here, Rox! Call me, do something, _please_!' Roxas couldn't help but smile at his phone.

"Hold on, Zexy," Roxas informed him as he began to call Marluxia and pushed his phone to his ear.

Zexion didn't really seem to even hear him, already lost again in writing.

On the third ring, Marluxia picked up. _"Roxas! What is it that you want? You're totally interrupting my time with Larxene!" _the pinkette said with stunning amount of credibility in his voice. Roxas wouldn't have been surprised if he wanted to be an actor when he got older.

"Hey Marly, I'm at Zexion's house. I dunno if you really wanna come over here or not but we could go to my house instead or do something else. Whatever you wanna do, I guess. No other plans today," the blond told him.

"_No way. That's terrible! Look, I'll come over and help right away. Sounds like a job too big for just you alone anyway. Just wait for me where you are. I don't want you to have to move Sora anywhere. I'll be there in like ten minutes. Tootles~!" _And with a final click, the conversation ended.

Talking with Marluxia always ended up putting a smile on Roxas' face. Something about the pinkette just made him extremely happy to know him. He really looked up to Marluxia and talking with him always seemed like a breath of fresh air for some reason. Truthfully, if Roxas got to choose a big brother, he'd definitely choose Marluxia without hesitation.

"Hey, Zexy, I hope you don't mind but Marluxia's gonna come over here. He wants to get away from Larxene in lieu of more 'intelligent' conversation," Roxas informed him.

The bookworm nodded. "I don't mind it. I'm actually surprised that Marluxia would choose to come here when you could go to your house. You've probably noticed, but he's not especially fond of me even if he treats me civilly."

"Yeah, that kind of surprised me, too. Maybe he wants you to be a substitute for Mr. Price. You _are_ his favorite student after all." The blond grinned.

Zexion scoffed and rolled his eyes, but Roxas couldn't see his eyes rolling. He still managed to see the shade of pink his ears turned, though. "Shut up, you don't know anything."

Roxas grinned at the behavior. He thought his poor bluenette friend getting all flustered and embarrassed was adorable, especially when he got angry about it. "Well, even if he doesn't want you to be Mr. Price's substitute, and even if he only wants to get along with you better for selfish reasons, it's not a bad thing. It would definitely bring our little group closer if the two of you actually got along. It's like you alone cause a great divide in our group."

"You make it sound as if I don't realize that," the bookworm murmured. "And if it's of any merit, you should know that I have and have had no ill will towards Marluxia in the past or present. The problems seem to be on his end. I don't know what I could've done to make him dislike me, and I definitely don't blame him for feeling that way. If he was willing to be friends and forgive me for whatever I've done to piss him off, I'd be perfectly okay with that."

"You know, I think that may be part of the reason he doesn't like you very much; your low self-esteem," the blond cautiously offered. He did know the reason, but he didn't want to tell Zexion directly or with too much certainty. After all, Marluxia had acted as if he didn't really want people to know about the details of his and Zexion's relationship. "Marluxia's a really confident person, so maybe it bums him out when you're not very confident."

Zexion shrugged half-heartedly. "Well, I can't blame him. My self-esteem is absolute shit," he said. Then, so quietly Roxas could scarcely hear him, he muttered, "I don't hate myself like I used to, at least."

Roxas chose not to say anything, especially about the last part. Zexion seemed very under the weather today, or at least out of sorts, and he didn't want to say anything else to make him uncomfortable.

Around ten minutes later, Marluxia arrived. He simply let himself into the Corazza household with a loud, musical, "I'm _here_, darlings!" Then he could be heard skipping up the wooden stairs. He burst into Zexion's room melodramatically, slamming the door against the wall next to it. "Hello, my lovelies," he greeted. He ruffled Zexion's hair before joining Roxas on the bed, capturing him under the arm for a good noogie.

"You absolutely saved my ass, Roxas! Thank you very much."

"Oh, it was no big deal," Roxas promised with a smile.

He pushed the younger boy down onto his back on the bed and began crawling seductively over to him. "How can I ever repay you…?" he trailed off suggestively, licking his lips and winking.

"Oh, I'm sure you'll find a way." Roxas tried to make his voice sound husky, but he just ended up spitting out the sentence between laughs.

Marluxia just grinned down at Roxas and gave a joking snarl before chuckling and going lax and flattening the blond against the bed.

"I'm sure Mr. Price would be very upset to see you like this, Marluxia. From what Roxas told me about his encounter with the two of you in the café, it seems like he's the jealous type of boyfriend," Zexion pointed out to him.

The pinkette just scoffed in reply and buried his face in the younger boy's chest. His ears visibly turned pink, but his hair covered the rest of his face seamlessly. "Now, there's nothing wrong with a little jealousy. Makes a person feel wanted. I'm sure you know what that's like. Besides, Mr. Price shouldn't be so insecure about us anyway," he responded.

Roxas tried to slip away from under Marluxia, but the older boy was just far too heavy and weighed the mattress down so that he rest in a small pit created by his aforementioned weight. He couldn't really move at all. "Get off me, you're so heavy I think I'll probably suffocate!"

"So enjoy the last few minutes of your life. At least it smells and looks delicious." Suddenly, an annoying, generic ringtone went off, sending the older boy to dig in his pockets. He pulled out the device and pressed it to his ear without even checking the caller ID. "Yes, my beloved?" he purred into the small rectangular gadget to his ear.

Roxas' struggle for freedom continued even as Marluxia answered his phone. Finally, the pinkette let up a bit when he shifted to make talking on the phone a bit more comfortable, giving Roxas enough leeway to slip from the pinkette's crushing position atop him.

Without warning, Marluxia hastily sat up, managing to knock heads with the blond on the way up. He seemed too excited to even notice as he demanded, "Really?" into the receiver. His enthusiastic tone of voice drew Roxas and Zexion to look up at him, the blond holding his head and tearing up a bit in pain. "Yes, of course, I'll let everyone know!" he paused for a second, "Well, of course, I'm excited! I'm absolutely ecstatic!" Another pause. "Alright, well I'll see you then, Vexy. Good evening." And with that, he ended the call and stared at his hands in shock for a few moments.

"That was Mr. Price, right?" Zexion wondered.

Marluxia looked up at him, a smile growing on his face. "Indeed it was. Looks like we have a meeting with them tomorrow at 7PM. I'm to alert everyone and see if any schedules conflict."

All three of them just sat there together smiling eagerly at each other like a bunch of idiots. Then, they all began texting the rest of their friends to enlighten them of the update.

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><p>The next day at 6:30PM, their group had convened at their usual ice cream shop to sit and wait for the address Mr. Price was going to send Marluxia for the meeting place. They tried to refrain from talking about the encounter they were about to face, but they were all just about to burst at the seams. Even Larxene seemed pumped and in a happy way, which surprised Roxas because she seemed too sadistic to feel any happy emotion not derived from some dark, mean root.<p>

"Alright, guys, whatever happens today, I want us all to promise we'll stick together as a group. From what Vexen's told me, all of the others are older than us and although age is but a number, they do have more experience with this phenomenon and each other," Marluxia cautioned.

"Well, they're just people, right? I'm sure it won't be too bad. What are they gonna do, kill us?" Demyx wondered with a chuckle.

"Well, whoever they are, I'm kinda wondering if we'll know any of them. It sounds like people like us tend to be drawn to each other, right? I mean, we make up a group of friends and all of us, without exception, have an ability, so maybe we'll have met some of them already," Axel remarked.

The group nodded in agreement.

"It's probably fair to assume that some of us know some of them. We all pretty much know Mr. Price even if you've never had his class," Naminé pointed out.

When Marluxia finally got the text providing the directions and the go-ahead, the respective drivers all made sure they knew how to get there before everyone proceeded to the parking and entered their assigned vehicles. Roxas' heart pounded away in his chest and his palms went sweaty. He couldn't tell if he was more nervous than excited or vice versa, but he tried to reassure himself as he picked at Axel's cloth seats. Despite the fact that he'd only met with Mr. Price and Marluxia a couple of days ago, Roxas felt like he'd been waiting for this moment for years.

"Hey, Rox, don't worry so much. We're all going through the same thing. I mean, I know our group makes fun of each other and maybe we don't treat each other the best, but we have each other's backs. We stick together." Axel smiled warmly at the blond. Then his face took on a horrid shit-eating grin. "And if you get scared, you can just hold my hand. Ole Axel here will take care of your pretty, blond self."

Normally, Roxas would've cussed at Axel or flipped him off, but today he felt nervous and unable to retort. Instead he just chuckled and nodded.

"I get what you're feeling and why, though," the redhead informed him. "After keeping it a secret for so long, it seems like everything is happening so suddenly. For sixteen years I've been hiding this part of me. Less than a month ago, I learned that you, Naminé, and Zexion all have something about them, too. Now, not even a month later, we find out that everyone else is a freak and there are even more than we originally thought."

It kind of surprised Roxas that Axel had so easily voiced his worries, but then he remembered that it probably shouldn't. They all had pretty much gone through the same thing. "But it's also exciting," the blond pointed out. "Like, finally after wondering all these years if we're all alone, we get a lucky break. And then we hear that it's not just us, and there are more."

"Exactly." Axel and Roxas looked at each other as the redhead rolled to a stop at a red light and shared a moment of empathy and understanding. "Roxas, I'm really glad that I met you. You've changed my life."

"Pshhh, don't be ridiculous. Even if I hadn't come along, this would've still happened."

"That's not true; it's because of yours and Zexion's friendship that we found out. And you said Marluxia only went to you because you were the most approachable. If you hadn't been here for that, then I might not be here on the road right now on my way to getting an explanation for something I've been wondering about all my life. Plus, there are lots of other ways you've changed my life."

"Oh yeah? Like what?" Roxas honestly didn't think that he'd changed that much in Axel's life. If the redhead wasn't with him, then he would probably just be dating someone else.

"Well, things are so natural with you. There's like this natural comfort you bring me that neither Demyx or Riku do. I'm like Demyx's punching bag and Riku and I haven't exactly been on the best of terms for the past few months, which is part of the reason I didn't really talk about him unless you brought him up. But with you, it's just so... uncomplicated." Axel gave an earnest smile.

Roxas had to cover his face to hide his flushed cheeks. "You fucking suck, Axel. And I believe the word is simple."

"Whatever," Axel scoffed, "the point is you're like my third best friend, and it's just awesome that you're more than that. You've made me a happier person, which is weird because you're a total bitch, you fucking sass monger."

The blond laughed at this. "Damn straight."

The rest of the ride, Axel managed to ease Roxas' anxiety towards their situation. He just made it sound less scary and his stupid jokes made Roxas want to punch him rather than run away and hide from everyone.

About fifteen minutes of following Marluxia's Toyota Corolla later, the group pulled into a long driveway that led to a fairly large house. It looked to be a bit smaller than Riku's house, but instead of the yard being really nice, ornate, and well taken-care-of, it was plain and somewhat empty.

Three cars were already parked in the driveway, two of them tucked into an open garage. As their three cars joined the ranks of the others, Roxas couldn't get over the fact that this was just a normal looking residential house. The blond had expected to meet in a public facility for holding meetings like maybe a local library or something. He definitely hadn't expected that they'd be meeting at someone's house.

"Axel, if they're scary, you really will protect me, right?" Roxas wondered as fear jittered down his spine again, making him feel skittish. He jolted in surprise when a warm hand landed on his thigh and found himself relaxed once more when Axel squeezed soothingly at it.

"Babe, relax. It'll all be fine. If something bad started happening, do you really think Marluxia would stand for it? Even though we call him Papa as a joke, he actually is really protective of all of us. I really doubt anything bad will happen, but I can tell you for a fact that if I can't protect you, he definitely will." Axel gave a warm smile as he put his truck into park. "So don't worry so much, alright? Let the big kids handle it."

Quickly, before anyone even had the chance to get out of their respective vehicles, Roxas kissed the redhead nice and deeply. Their tongues twined and explored each other for a few short moments of bliss before they pulled away, grinning at each other.

'_Jesus fucking Christ, I think I love you. Damn you're so perfect._'

Even though Axel hadn't voiced these thoughts and even though he probably forgot that Roxas could see it, the blond still blushed bright red and couldn't help but feel the same way. He hastily exited the vehicle so that Axel wouldn't realize he'd seen those thoughts. He couldn't deal with that right now.

Immediately upon stepping out of Axel's truck, he could see he wasn't the only nervous one. Zexion clung to Demyx's arm anxiously while the sandy blond held a ukulele in one hand in a tight grip. Naminé clung to Marluxia in a similar fashion.

"Well," the pinkette said with a sigh as they all regrouped in the long driveway, "I guess this is it. Vexy told me we could just go in and sit down in the living room and wait. Apparently not everyone is here yet and he wants to give us a chance to get comfortable amongst those already present so we don't freak out, which is probably what we all need; a little comfort. Shall we go?"

As a group, they made their way to the front door where they forced Marluxia to open it and enter first. Everyone seemed to sense that he was the unspoken leader and orchestrator of this event, so they followed his lead.

Roxas resisted the urge to cling to Axel through all of this, and tried to compromise by holding hands with Zexion, who seemed to appreciate the extra object to cling to.

The interior of the house was nice, decorated with a couple of paintings as well as pictures of people, probably the others in the group. They didn't have time to really look at the pictures, however, because the living room was down a different hallway. A large white, square couch surrounded a coffee table in the center of the living room and a plasma screen TV was mounted on the wall above. A couple of plants decorated the room and a grand piano sat next to a window with a view of the front yard and the driveway. Roxas could practically feel Demyx's smile from here.

All seven of them sat on one side of the couch, save for Axel who got stuck sitting on the armrest. Roxas sat next to his secret boyfriend and then sat Zexion, Demyx, Marluxia, Larxene, and finally Naminé.

An older looking man with black and gray hair, an eye patch over his right eye, and a gnarly scar on the left side of his jaw walked into the living room from a doorway on the other side. Upon seeing the group of high schoolers sitting on the couch, he grinned and said "Hey, you must be the fresh meat Vexen told us about." He approached the couch and hopped over the back of it to sit on the side opposite of everyone else.

"Yes, we are indeed," Marluxia responded, looking a bit wary of the strange man.

"Hey, you must be the kid Vexen hasn't been able to stop talking about lately. He's been saying things like 'dyed hair' yadda yadd yadda 'really glad you have a special ability, can't wait to work with you.' Things like that," The man explained to the pinkette.

"Really? Vexen talks about me that way?" The absolute glee in Marluxia's voice made Roxas smile. This news alone seemed to make the pinkette's day if everything else didn't.

The man remained silent for a moment, lost in thought as he looked over the group. His gaze stopped on Zexion. "Oh, actually, he didn't say 'dyed hair' he said' blue hair,' so he must've been talking about you." Marluxia's face completely fell, breaking a little bit of Roxas' heart as the stranger took a few minutes to gaze over the bookworm. "Damn, kid, you're a shrimp! What are you, like 4'9"?"

Zexion glowered at that. "I'm 5'2", thank you very much."

In response, the man nodded, though he seemed a little distracted. "You know, you look familiar to me for some reason, but I can't place why." He shrugged. "Well, what the fuck ever. More importantly," his gaze shifted to Demyx, "what's _your_ name, cutie?"

Demyx went through a quick bout of confusion, looking around a bit before pointing to himself and asking, "Me?"

In the blink of an eye, the man was no longer sitting across from them, and was instead wedged between Zexion and Demyx. He wrapped an arm around the sandy blond and took his chin in his hands between his forefinger and thumb, forcing the musician to look at him. "You know, kiddo, we should totally go get something to eat in a more private setting after this shindig is over."

Immediately, Demyx began frantically pushing the older man away. "Marluxia, help, an old man is flirting with me!" he shouted.

Instead of Marluxia, who was too busy laughing with Larxene and Naminé to lift a finger, Zexion came to his boyfriend's aid instead and pulled the man away from his partner and tossed him back on side of the couch opposite them. "That would be my boyfriend you just asked out. Please refrain from touching what's mine," he warned, gaining a chorus of 'ooh's and a hug and enthusiastic kiss on the cheek from Demyx.

"Jeez, Zexy, thanks so much for saving me!" Then, he tried to whisper out, "God, I love it when you say I'm yours. Can I give you head later?" But Demyx absolutely sucks at whispering, so everyone began laughing at the way Zexion's face turned bright crimson.

"Hey, you might be resisting my charms now, but I'll get you in my bed eventually, kid," the man promised.

"Oi, Xigbar, stop frightening the children." A voice carried from the next room in an English accent.

Roxas noticed the way Larxene immediately perked up and stared intently at the doorways.

"Yeah, yeah, don't get your knickers in a twist, you dumb old Brit," the skunk-haired man replied.

A man with really short, blond hair, a goatee to match, and three piercings in his left ear and two in his right entered the room, looking somewhat amused. He came from the same doorway the group had used when they first came in.

Larxene gave a happy shriek in the form of "Luxord!" Before she half stepped-half jumped over the couch to approach him and wrap her arms around the newcomer.

"Larxene? Well, what a surprise! It's a proper surprise that you're one of them, my pet," he said as he took the girl into his arms and kissed the top of her head.

Everyone else seemed surprised, though Roxas realized they shouldn't have been because not five minutes ago they hypothesized that they might know some of the other people with abilities. Admittedly, Roxas was more shocked at how affectionate Larxene was acting. She rarely openly showed any form of affection. Her type of affection was being pushed into lockers and being smacked roughly on the back when you made her laugh.

"Luxord and I have been fucking for a few months. He's my most reliable lay and the most consistent," she explained, still tightly holding him. "Isn't he just a doll, Marly?"

Marluxia still seemed a little upset about the misunderstanding between the skunk-haired man and who Mr. Price had been talking about. Still, though, he smiled and said, "Yes, he seems like a good fit for you."

The pair of blonds made their way to the couch where Larxene shooed Naminé into Marluxia's lap so that Luxord could take her place and then she sat down in his lap. They cuddled on the couch in a way that made Roxas' skin crawl. He didn't know how to feel about Larxene not acting like a heartless monster.

"Oi, Xigbar, you should go inform Xaldin that the little sheep are here. The Superior likewise," Luxord instructed him.

"Why can't you do it? I'm just sitting here enjoying the view," responded Xigbar with a wink aimed at Demyx, who visibily cringed and cuddled closer to Zexion for protection.

"You're scaring the poor lad. Now, off with you. Make yourself useful."

Xigbar grumbled, but begrudgingly got up and left the room.

Things grew more comfortable after that and the group chatted amongst each other along with Luxord, Xigbar, and a fierce looking man named Xaldin.

Around ten minutes later, two more people had walked in, an extremely tall, burly man with brown hair and Mr. Price. Zexion seemed absolutely horrified to see the giant man and had tensed up very visibly. He glared at the man, who looked back at him helplessly.

"Hey, now I know where I recognize you from!" Xigbar had said. "Lexaeus here keeps a picture of you in his room!"

Upon hearing his name, Roxas realized _this_ was Zexion's ex. He looked sympathetically at his best friend who shot the brunet a glaringly obvious 'what the fuck' look. Lexaeus looked somewhat embarrassed.

"Oh, so you two know each other?" Mr. Price questioned.

Lexaeus remained silent while Zexion snorted in contempt and crossed his arms, earning curious gazes from everyone. It seemed no one at all had any idea who this man could be to Zexion.

Finally, the last two people showed up, and they both received extremely confused faces from everyone in the group. The men were tall, one had long blue hair, yellow eyes, and a cross-shaped scar on his face while the other had long silver hair, dark skin, and golden-orange eyes. Roxas has no idea who these men were, so Zexion kindly explained that these men were the principal and vice principal of their school. That made the blond do a double take because their VP, the blue-haired man named Mr. Thornton, did _not_ look fit for the job with his blue hair and X-shaped scar. Mr. Diskin seemed much more professional, but every bit as intimidating. Everyone quieted down as they joined everyone else on the couch.

"Now that we're here, the meeting can begin," Mr. Diskin announced. He directed his attention on Roxas and his friends, looking to each face as he began to talk. "You're all here because you possess abilities others don't share. Although this is a very serious matter, we hope to not frighten you off. Please get comfortable and refrain from speaking as I explain what will happen from this point forward. Then Vexen can perhaps quell some confusion you may have about your abilities with an explanation of why and how you possess them."

"Now, before we really begin, I think it would be best if you learned who we are so that you might feel more comfortable. So what is going to happen is we will all introduce ourselves, share one interesting fact about us, and give a demonstration of our abilities. If your ability is difficult to demonstrate, just explain it. After we're all through with, it will be your turns. I'll start off."

Even though he looked really intimidating, Mr. Diskin seemed to genuinely care about their well-being. It made sense, being that he was an educator, and Roxas decided he really liked that. His previous apprehension and worry of his personal safety went out the window.

"My name is Xemnas Diskin and I'm the leader of this group. My ability is manipulation of the mind. I shall demonstrate this by taking control of Xigbar, who I'm told you met earlier, and enforcing my will on him." Mr. Diskin stood and turned in Xigbar's direction. "Xigbar," he began, his eyes suddenly glowing, "tuck in your shirt, pull up your pants, and admit your age."

Clearly under a trance, evidenced by the suddenly vacant expression on his face, Xigbar followed instructions. "I'm 43 years old," he said in a deadpan voice after tucking in his shirt and pulling up his pants.

Demyx fumbled with his ukulele and gasped melodramatically, gaining everyone's attention instantly. "A 43 year-old man hit on me! Ewww!" he cried as he drew his legs up to his chest and buried his face into Zexion's shoulder.

Chuckles went through the group and things continued on. Mr. Thornton could turn into a werewolf, Lexaeus could create illusions, Xaldin, a scary man with ridiculous-looking sideburns, could learn things twice as fast as normal people and could actually levitate off the ground a couple of feet, Xigbar could teleport and had control of time, Luxord could bring inanimate objects to life, and Mr. Price could control weather, which Roxas already knew.

Then it was Larxene's turn, who shared she wanted to be a fashion photographer and demonstrated her power by zapping Marluxia with a shock a bit more powerful than a static shock. Marluxia shared that he'd starred in every single school play he'd been a part of and then charmed Larxene into complimenting Zexion on his fashion sense, which was incredible to see because she absolutely hated his style of dress. Naminé told them that she'd won several national awards for her artwork and then passed around a drawing she'd done capturing the thoughts she could see coming from Roxas once during chemistry. Marluxia and Axel were a bit disconcerted by this because among his thoughts was an image of the two having sex. Demyx explained that he could play seven different instruments: ukulele, guitar, sitar, viola, piano, French horn, and trumpet and then played _At the Bottom of Everything_ at Xigbar's request because the sandy blond just couldn't turn down the chance to perform. Then he asked if there was a pool here in the house, and when the answer was yes, he said he that would have to go last.

Every one of his friends groaned when Zexion said there was nothing interesting about him and each offered different interesting facts about him. Marluxia surprisingly flattered him the most by saying he was the most of them all. Then he demonstrated part of his ability by lifting the giant coffee table between the two sides of the couch with one hand. Roxas hardly felt nervous as he shared that he had a twin brother and demonstrated his ability by reading Mr. Price's thoughts aloud. Axel shared that he was the only one of them that had a job and had difficulty demonstrating his ability. He sounded really sheepish when he admitted he control it or create fire at will. He managed to heat his hands enough to burn a throw pillow, though.

"Alright, it was nice to see your unique abilities and to learn a bit about you. After a brief explanation of where we are and a few general facts about us as a group, Mr. Price will take over and give a few explanations of theories he's gathered through study. Firstly, we call ourselves the Organization because it sounds a bit more covert in public conversations. Now, something important to know is that we are all drawn to each other because of our powers and I'm certain some of you knew some existing members prior to today. I was appointed leader by everyone else and because I was the first to speak at all about our curious abilities."

"You may have been surprised when the address Vexen gave you led you to a residential neighborhood and a normal-looking house, but you should know that this is our headquarters. Most of us live here and we pay the mortgage together as a group. We thought a house would meet our needs and offer a safe place for us to stay. In addition to a place to stay, Vexen studies our gifts in his lab located in the basement." Mr. Diskin turned his gaze towards Mr. Price who began addressing them next.

"Well, my theory regarding where our powers derive from lies in genetics. As you can see, the majority of us are male and I believe genetics plays some sort of role in this. Like genetic diseases, I believe that the gene for our gifts, if one exists, must be located in the X chromosome, making males more likely to have abilities than females. Through Marluxia, I've heard the majority of you are homosexual, which also fits with a theory I have that we're gay for a reason: to prevent us from reproducing, which might also be backed by the majority of us being male. It would seem that we're meant to be a minority," he explained. "So if you're gay, don't be afraid of facing homophobia. The only straight man among us is Luxord."

"And if you need a place to fuck your boy toy, we have an entire bedroom upstairs reserved for that, and it's stocked with lube and condoms!" Xigbar interjected.

"Thank you for that, Xigbar. We realize sex happens, so we decided to set aside a safe environment for it, the teacher explained. Anyway, that's all that I've really been able to hypothesize with evidence to back. I'm fairly sure about those two theories."

Mr. Price quieted down, signaling Mr. Diskin to start talking again. "Because you are considered members of the organization, you are more than welcome to live here or stay occasionally. The only thing we ask is that if you decide to stay for any significant amount of time, you will have to start paying rent and doing chores. While this may not apply to you now, being that you all live at home, it may help after you graduate high school if you need a place to stay while attending community college or thinking about your next step. However, just because you're not yet graduated, don't feel that you aren't allowed to stay here for whatever reason. If money is an issue and you cannot pay rent, we can work something out. We're more than willing to compromise."

"Also, now that you're part of the organization, it's expected of you to visit every once in a while and to keep in contact with us. You're also invited on any excursions we go on as a group. While it's not mandatory that you do any of those things, we would most definitely appreciate it. Like the New Year's fair that will be taking place in the next couple of days; we plan on going as a group and you're all more than welcome to tag along."

Mr. Diskin went on about other activities they often did together as a group and explained that once every couple of weeks, they would have a meeting of sorts with the focal point being getting to know each other and interacting with each other. Roxas really liked the idea of the Organization. It made him feel like he was actually part of something special. He'd never been a religious person and their family didn't attend church, and he didn't mind that, but he did sort of envy the idea of being part of a group of people outside of family that all cared for one another, and that's what the Organization looked like to him. It all felt really friendly, especially when Mr. Diskin requested that he be called by first name outside of school. The same went for Mr. Price and Mr. Thornton.

Eventually contact information for everyone was distributed and they each added the others into their phones. The meeting had wound down at that point, so the focus now was on Demyx's ability, being that he hadn't displayed his yet.

The sandy blond asked to be directed to the pool, and Xemnas led him with everyone trailing behind. Roxas couldn't help but notice the way Lexaeus seemed to be trying very hard to get Zexion's attention, who seemed to be trying very hard to ignore him. Although Roxas didn't know all of the details of the relationship, he found himself siding strongly with his blue-haired best friend. Whatever had been going on in the relationship, whatever problems they had, the blond still felt that nobody deserved to be dumped through text without any further contact whatsoever.

When they entered the indoor pool area, which wasn't very big at all but looked nice for a swim on a hot day, Demyx took the lead instead of Xemnas. He waited for everyone to enter the room and watch him curiously. At first Roxas thought he had control of water or something to that effect, but when the musician began stripping himself in front of everyone else, he immediately realized he was wrong.

Demyx tossed his clothes to Zexion, who caught them despite the bewildered look on his face. Even when he got down to his underwear, he didn't stop stripping. Everyone seemed surprised when he jumped into the pool absolutely naked. Within a few seconds of being under the water, though, he resurfaced and rose above the surface of the water with a scaly, fishlike tail that had replaced his legs and began where pelvis was located. He chuckled at the shocked looks on everyone's faces.

"If you give me some fish, I'll do a trick for you," he joked.

Unfortunately for Demyx, he lost all the attention he'd garnered when a disturbance broke out between Lexaeus and Zexion. The bluenette had handed Roxas Demyx's clothes, save for a ring of keys, which grabbed the eyes of the curious spectators, turned on his heel, and was headed for the exit. Lexaeus gripped the much smaller boy by the shoulder saying, "Zexion, wait!"

Instead of being relatively quiet, calm, and collected as he usually was, Zexion absolutely lost it. He suddenly turned to face Lexaeus, grabbed his arm, and flipped him over his head and onto the ground, screaming, "_Don't you __**dare**__ touch me!_" The force of the giant man hitting the floor made the entire room quake a bit, but Zexion disregarded that. "If a place like hell exists, I hope that you go there and suffer for the remainder of your pathetic life!" he snarled through his teeth, glaring at the man on the floor with such intensity and ferocity that Roxas felt his knees weaken in fear.

Everyone remained quiet, not quite sure what to make of this event. Even Xigbar was speechless.

"Demyx, I'll be waiting in your car," Zexion informed his boyfriend before exiting the room quietly.

Nobody really knew what to make of what had just taken place.

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><p><strong>AN: **Woo yay things happened and things are going places.

For those who were concerned last time about having too much plot or moving too quickly too suddenly, I just would like to inform that things slow down after this, but this was important and had to happen at this point in time. SO yeah. Don't fret if it suddenly seems like a lot happen.

So yeah, we met the Organization and the members and everyone has powers and things are cray and things are wonderful. Do you like the powers I gave everyone? I tried to kind of relate back to the canon powers, but I changed some because they didn't really apply or I didn't like them, like powers tied specifically to weapons because they don't actually fight in this.

Are there any errors I should correct? I'm like running on empty right now so that I don't put off on posting this another day and I don't trust my editing skills in this fatigued state. Hopefully no glaringly obvious errors exist. I wrote the majority of this on my phone, so if there are formatting inconsistencies or more typos than normal, that would be why.

Anyway, if you loved it or me or you have something to say, you should totes leave a review or do something awesome like faving the story or alerting it or whatever else have you!

But yes, have a wonderful day and I hope everyone who is back in school is having a satisfactory first month of education!


	29. Reno Hates Roxas

**A/N: **Hello there! Hi hello, how are you? Good okay that's great.

Thanks to everyone who reviewed and alerted and faved and everything because you're all special snowflakes and I love you.

Anyway, please enjoy the chapter!

[Edited as of 12/13/12]

Thanks to everyone who expressed interest in being my beta! I did end up finding one, so thank you to Rugiku who worked very hard to edit this =)

Kingdom Hearts © Disney and Enix

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><p>Roxas took a moment to drink in the situation. Everyone was stunned at Zexion's sudden outburst and some looked sympathetically at Lexaeus who lay on the ground in anguish. Demyx's mouth went slack-jawed and concern was set deeply in his face, Axel, Marluxia, and Larxene seemed somewhat amused, and everyone else just looked confused. Even though Roxas knew Zexion was still harboring negative feelings about his and Lexaeus' breakup, it seemed way too extreme for him to just slam him onto the ground, especially since Zexion was normally so mild-mannered.<p>

After the situation completely registered in Roxas' mind, he tossed Demyx's clothes to Axel and then began chasing after Zexion. The bluenette had been acting kind of strange lately and he wanted to be there for him when it seemed like he needed it most. He managed to book it through the house and catch up with Zexion as he was silently storming down the driveway towards his boyfriend's car.

"Zexion, are you okay?" Roxas wondered as he approached his friend. He put a gentle hand to the bluenette's arm and squeezed lightly.

Zexion grabbed Roxas' hand and led him to Demyx's car before prompting him to get in the backseat. His face remained expressionless the entire time, even as he entered the car behind the blond. Only when he had closed the door behind him did his face break. Before Roxas could even determine what level if sadness it conveyed, his best friend buried his face into his chest and wrapped his arms around him.

Without hesitation, Roxas wrapped his arms around his crestfallen friend. He couldn't exactly tell if Zexion was crying or not despite the fact that his shoulders and chest were heaving with weighty breaths. "It's okay, Zexion, I got you. You'll be okay," he whispered comfortingly into the bluenette's ears. He didn't really know the proper way to comfort Zexion, so he decided to use the method that he used with Sora. He figured everybody just wanted to be told everything was going to be okay anyway.

"Why did he have to be one of them...?" Zexion wondered through his labored breaths. "I thought I would never have to see him again..."

"Shh, it'll be okay, alright? You don't need to work yourself up over him; especially not since you have Demyx. And you know I'm here for you if you ever need me. Even if he hurt you in the past and you don't exactly want to be around him, it's an inevitability now. If he hurt you that badly and then left, then he's obviously a douche bag that doesn't deserve all this power over you. Don't let him have this power. Don't let him change your life more than he already has," Roxas slowly told his friend as he rubbed slow, firm circles on Zexion's back.

Zexion pulled away and let his arms drop, prompting Roxas to drop his arms as well. "You're right, as always," he said with a small, sad smile. A couple of tears littered his face and his eye was red. He wiped at the droplets hastily and took a couple of deep breaths. "You're positively correct. I needn't worry about Lexaeus. He's not my boyfriend anymore and he hasn't been for months, so he does not deserve to have this influence on me. I should steel myself to his existence since we'll be inhabiting the same circles now." Zexion took a little while too cool off. "And even if he wishes to reunite romantically with me, as evidenced by the picture he keeps of me and the fact that he wanted to talk things through with me, he will not be able to. I have Demyx now, and I'm happier than I've ever been; much happier than when I was with him."

The two friends simply sat there and talked a while until Demyx arrived at the car and told Roxas to ride with Axel because he wanted to privately speak with Zexion. Roxas couldn't really argue with that, so he took his leave. Despite him really wanting to stick around and hear the impending conversation, Roxas knew this had to be discussed privately.

When Roxas exited Demyx's vehicle, he noticed that Marluxia's car was already gone, meaning that he, Larxene, and Naminé had already left. Axel's truck still sat there, so he approached it and got in. He noticed Axel staring at him expectantly, but ignored him as he pulled his seatbelt on.

"Well?" Axel prompted. "What was that all about?"

Honestly, Roxas didn't know whether it was okay to tell him or not. Eventually everyone would know Lexaeus and Zexion were exes. Still, Roxas didn't want to say anything to Axel and then have it come around and bite him in the ass if Axel let it slip to Zexion that he knew. The blond sighed in his dazed state.

Axel scoffed at his reluctance, but turned so his body faced forward. He started up the truck as he said, "Look, it's not like I'm gonna tell Demyx or anyone else, for that matter. You trust me, right?" '_Damn, he doesn't even trust me with something stupid like __**this**__. Way to build trust, Roxas and Axel._'

That thought scared Roxas in ways that he didn't understand. It was the tipping point. "Lexaeus is Zexion's ex-boyfriend," he essentially blurted.

Axel whipped his head in Roxas' direction as he began shifting into drive. '_Yay, he __**does**__ trust you!_' "No shit?" the redhead asked, eyes back on the road. They began pulling out of the long driveway.

"Yup. Look, Axel," Roxas began, taking a deep breath. He knew he was taking a risk here, but he decided it would serve as a trust exercise between him and Axel. He wanted to be able to trust the redhead, and this seemed like the perfect opportunity to give him a chance. "If you ever tell anyone about this, Zexion, Demyx, even Sora, I'll sneak into your room while you're sleeping and cut your balls off. I'm not even joking."

At this, Axel just scoffed. "Like I _would_ tell anyone! Now come on, tell me more, baby."

"Firstly, don't call me that," Roxas cautioned with his eyes narrowed. "Second, Lexaeus dumped Zexion through text and never explained why."

"So that's why Zexy was so upset. How long ago did they break up, do you know?" the redhead wondered. _'Damn, I completely forgot that the reason Zexion wasn't dating Demyx before was because of someone else._'

Roxas nodded his head. "Yeah, they broke up during July apparently. It was one-sided and totally caught Zexion off guard. I think Zexion was too hurt to even ask why. He's got pretty shit self-esteem, so I'm sure he somehow convinced himself that he deserved it. Or maybe he didn't think it mattered." A silence followed before Roxas continued. "And like I said, if you ever tell anyone, I will serve your balls to Riku's Chihuahua."

Axel laughed at that. "Jeez, Rox, have some faith in me, alright? I'd never disobey you like that; I'm a good boy." He took a moment to grin at the blond and then promptly missed the turn that led to Roxas' neighborhood. Axel winked at the blond.

"Sleepover?" Roxas wondered enthusiastically. He really liked sleeping with Axel and ever since sleeping with the redhead, he hadn't been able to sleep as well as he used to without the older boy. The fact that sometimes Axel squashed his legs and made them fall asleep didn't bother him in the slightest because 1. Axel smelled really good, 2. he liked having someone to curl up to, and 3. the redhead was as warm as fuck. Plus, the activity before the sleeping made the blond tingly all over.

"Nah, can't today, unfortunately. Reno's home. We could still hang out, though. We can make out on the couch until you have to go home. Reno shouldn't bother us too much as long as our hands don't wander past our stomachs. Sound good?"

Upon hearing that Reno would be there, Roxas cringed a bit. "Are you sure he'd leave us alone? Because you've said that before and it hasn't always been true," he pointed out. Honestly if Reno was there, Roxas would rather just either go to his house or go out somewhere else.

"I know," he said with a sigh, "it's kind of hit or miss with him. But come on! It's dark out and it's like almost 7:30. I mean if you want, I guess we could go out somewhere, but I kinda," the redhead paused for a moment and spoke much more gently than he usually did, "I kinda wanted to have dinner at home with you."

Roxas wouldn't have been able to stop the swooning that overtook him if he tried. He smiled so wide it hurt his face. "Alright, fine. But only because you're such a cutie pie."

Axel grumbled embarrassedly. "Not cute," he mumbled, "I'm manly as hell." But even as he said this, he blushed a little bit and pouted at the road ahead of him.

"You're not helping your cause. You should just finally sit down and accept the fact that you're absolutely adorable," Roxas teased. He actually found great joy in calling Axel cute just because then the redhead got to see how it felt to be called cute all the time.

"Yeah, well, look who's talking. You're just about the cutest thing ever, but you refuse to accept it. How can you not be cute if you come up to my shoulders and still have your baby fat and have these giant, blue eyes? You're basically a circle because of you much of a cutie pi you are." Axel raised his eyebrows and flashed his shit-eating grin at the blond.

"Oh my god. I'll kill you. Pull this car over, I'm walking home," the blond instructed in a deathly serious voice.

"But _Roxyyy_," Axel whined, "I'm _hilarious_! Why can't you just love me for who I am inside?" he demanded.

"Because you're a terrible human being. You need to die."

The pair arrived at Axel's house not long afterwards. Roxas insisted on having a make out session in the back seat before going inside in case Reno decided to completely cock block them that day. Of course, Axel didn't complain; he had a thing for Roxas being pushy, which the blond knew and liked. It gave their relationship a feeling of equality, which he adored. Axel clearly had more sexual experience than him, and he found it nice that the redhead didn't feel entitled to be the "dominant" one in the relationship because of it.

After they were satisfied for the time being, they continued on to Axel's apartment where, lo and behold, Reno was sitting in the kitchen talking on the phone. The two redheads shared a short greeting, and Roxas waved hello. Roxas went and sat on the couch while Axel went into the kitchen, explaining that he was going to figure out what to make for dinner and also to make hot chocolate for them both. The blond simply could never turn down food or hot chocolate, so he decided to go to Axel's room and steal the blanket from his bed to use on the couch.

Once he had the blanket, he settled on the couch with it firmly wrapped around him like a burrito. While he'd been in Axel's room, Roxas has been sure to swipe another one of the redhead's sweaters. He'd decided by this point to collect as many of Axel's sweaters as possible until he demanded them back. Any number of his sweaters would never be enough to satisfy Roxas because he just liked them far too much.

"Jeez, Rox, are you really that cold?" Axel wondered with a smirk when he returned. He flopped down onto the couch and wrapped his arms around the blond burrito and kissed his cheek.

"Yes, it's fucking freezing! Anyway, I'm starving; what's for dinner, housewife?" he wondered, his stomach sounding out as if to affirm that he was speaking truthfully.

Axel chuckled. "Well, sweetie," he began in a high-pitched voice that probably was supposed to sound feminine but just ended up sounding creepy, "I started marinating some chicken. So we'll be having baked chicken if that's alright with you, darling." He and the younger boy grinned at each other for a moment before he asked in his regular voice, "Do you want me to hold you? I could make you warmer than my shitty comforter."

Roxas nodded. "Why does this blanket suck so much?" he wondered as he unwrapped himself from the bedding. His boyfriend immediately took him into his arms and warmed himself to an impossibly warm human temperature that made Roxas feel all tingly inside. "And why are you so perfect?"

"Well, I got it because it sucked. I'm so naturally warm that I don't really even need a blanket, so why waste money on a nice one? And as for why I'm so perfect, it's obviously because I was born to serve you for the rest of your life, so of course I'm terrific at satisfying your needs. In return, and with accordance to the blood pact our parents made prior to our birth, you must love me unconditionally for the rest of your life. Does that accurately answer your question?" he wondered with a bat of his lashes.

With a trill of laughter, Roxas buried his face into Axel's chest and snuggled up to him. "Yes, I'm totally sure that's what is going on here," he murmured in his relaxed state. A silence fell over them as they turned their attention to the TV where Spongebob was attempting to impress his friends by ripping his pants. The blond eventually got bored and decided to nip at the redhead's neck.

Axel whined in protest and tried to pull away, but Roxas followed him, biting and licking at his throat. "Roxy, no," he whimpered in a shrill voice. He kept leaning backwards and Roxas kept leaning forwards to match his pace. Eventually, Roxas ended up lying on top of the larger boy, still attacking his neck. "Well, two can play at this game, cutie," he threatened before reciprocating the actions, leading to the two essentially making out with each other's necks.

"Children, let's keep things G-rated, please and thank you." Reno rudely interrupted them and then sat on top of Roxas to help punctuate his point.

Both boys whined almost exactly the same in protest, making them grin at each other.

"Get off me, old man, or else I'll hump your son," the blond threatened.

"Do that and I'll inform your dear old daddy and demand to know why his male son would be interested in humping my own innocent, but flamingly homosexual male son." Reno paused for a moment to take a drink from his bottled water. "But here, allow me to help regardless." And then he began bouncing up and down on Roxas' back, knocking the two boys beneath him together painfully.

"Reno!" Axel growled. "Just get off!"

"Fine, but don't take up the entire couch like you're the only ones here." The man got up and allowed the two boys to reorient themselves in a more compact position.

Roxas sat in Axel's lap with the redhead's arms wrapped firmly around him. He kissed the blond's temple as they watched the TV some more.

"Yo, Roxas, are you sleeping over tonight? Axel do you still have condoms or should I go pick some up?" the older redhead wondered innocently.

The blond almost turned around and took a swipe at the man. He really didn't like Reno. Luckily, Axel saw this and stopped him. "No," Roxas had to keep himself from hissing, "I'm not sleeping over tonight." Everything about Reno just rubbed him the wrong way and he didn't understand how Axel could be so different from Reno when Axel was his son and they looked so much alike.

"Reno, please don't patronize Roxas," Axel murmured.

Reno snorted at this. "Don't patronize him?" he asked before clapping the blond on the back. "He can take it; he's not a fucking baby, Axel. Right, Roxy?" He let out a barking laugh.

Before Roxas could respond to Reno, Axel quickly interjected. "_Dad_!" he begged in exasperation.

The older redhead sobered up immediately after that and narrowed his eyes at his son. "Fine, whatever, I'll leave the two of you alone. You'd better go check on your fucking chicken, _son_." _'I can't fucking believe the nerve of that boy. Actually, I can! Fuck, you don't get to call me 'dad' the same way I don't call you 'son._' _How dare you bring your fuck buddy into my house and take over like you pay the fucking bills,_' his forehead said before the writing developed into a series of illegible scribbles.

Axel huffed in contempt. "Whatever," he grumbled before he got up and went to the kitchen.

Roxas watched Reno settled further into the couch with his legs wide open, arms crossed on his chest, and a scowl on his face. Despite that the blond couldn't stand the man, he had to admit he was damn sexy. It was probably at that point that Roxas realized he didn't necessarily hate Reno for the things he did, which he believed did play a certain role in his displeasure for the redhead, but he hated him because he was sexually frustrated over him. Regardless of how much of a douchebag he acted like, Roxas still thought he was fucking hot.

"Excuse me, Blondie, can I help you?" Reno demanded, glaring at the boy on the couch. _'Why do I always gotta put up with this shit? What's so great about this fucker anyway? Riku was a better fit for Axel by a long shot._'

"N-no," Roxas stuttered as he was jolted out of his reverie. "Sorry," he mumbled. He felt his stomach drop a bit in disappointment, which he thought a little bit ironic. He really disliked Reno, or so he thought, but hearing that the redhead didn't like him back bothered him. Perhaps it was more the fact that Reno didn't even think he was good for Axel. It bothered him that he thought Riku was such a better fit. He felt his throat catch a bit and he frowned.

"Reno!" Axel shouted from the kitchen. "Leave my boyfriend the fuck alone! I really like him so if you fuck up my relationship with him, I'll be fucking pissed and then I'll call you 'dad' for the rest of my life."

The man snorted. "Axel, of all the things you could've inherited from me, you inherited my douche-baggery." _'I guess I can't really argue with the fact that Roxas makes Axel happy. Unfortunately.'_ "Fine, you jerk, I'll play nice." He uncrossed his arms to reach one out to Roxas. "Since the prince demands it; truce."

Roxas took the man's hand and had to keep himself from holding on to it. It was large and warm, just like Axel's hands. "Truce," he agreed.

Eventually, they all ended up eating in the living room and watching TV. Reno decided to clean up the dishes and the sink since Axel had cooked that night, and Roxas kind of suspected he was taking an extremely long time on purpose so that they could enjoy their time together. Thus, the pair took advantage of the opportunity and continued to snuggle up together on the couch.

"So you ready for tomorrow?" Axel wondered.

"Huh?" Roxas questioned. "What are you talking about?"

Axel sighed melodramatically and rolled his eyes. "I guess you wouldn't know." He stopped being dramatic when Roxas lightly punched his shoulder and they chuckled with each other.

"Wouldn't know what?" the blond wondered.

"Tomorrow, we're going to the New Year's Eve fair at the fairgrounds on the outskirts of Radiant Garden. We go every year as a group. It's like Halloween. But this year, I think we might be going with the Organization as well. I'm not really sure about that. I think that Zexion's the one who's making that decision since he's really the only person who would have a problem with that. Marluxia's probably gonna intimidate him into going, though. He'd be pissed if he didn't get a chance to be with his precious Vexen."

Roxas nodded. "I hope Zexion'll be okay. I mean, I don't mean to be offensive, but Demyx can barely handle his own emotions; can he handle Zexion's?"

"Rox, don't worry about Demyx and Zexion. Demyx might not be good with dealing with his own issues, but he and Zexion have a nice connection with a long past together and they probably know each other better than anyone else does. See, the way things work out is that Zexion typically hides everything he's feeling, but when he can't hide it all, he goes to Demyx because Demyx understands him better than anyone else. Demyx doesn't like to share his emotions either, and dumps his problems on me, instead. But that's mostly because Dem needs someone to comfort him and Zexion's not very good at that. He does know about Dem's problems and stuff but he just isn't good at making him feel better," Axel explained. "But I guess things are changing with you around. Zexion talks to you now, too, which is good for him. Good job, sweetie, you're such a good person!" He nuzzled his nose against Roxas' cheek and grinned.

"Fuck you," the blond giggled before nuzzling back.

They lay like that for a long time, canoodling together.

* * *

><p>A light buzzing in his pockets sent a jittering sensation up Roxas' leg, rousing him from his sleep. When his eyes fluttered open, the first thing he saw was Axel's neck. He'd spent enough time over the course of their relationship gnawing at the thing to recognize it up close. Plus, no one was this warm and the bright red hair falling over the shoulder in his line of vision was a dead giveaway. Immediately after realizing he'd fallen asleep at Axel's house after all, he sat up carefully so as not to disturb his boyfriend, worrying about the fact that he hadn't told his family at all where he was.<p>

The redhead was still dead asleep with a peaceful look on his face that made Roxas ridiculously giddy and forget about his parents. He couldn't help but put a hand to the boy's jaw and run his thumb over his cheek. Axel chuckled and shifted a bit in his sleep, the touch clearly tickling him. Roxas grinned before he remembered that his phone had woken him up. He discovered that it was actually 8:30AM and that the text was from Marluxia informing him that they were, indeed, going to the fair later with the Organization at around noon. He was about to call his house when a voice suddenly startled him.

"Yo, Roxas, good morning. Looks like I was right; you did sleep over," the voice greeted from the hallway.

Roxas glanced over to see Reno leaning against the wall with a grin on his face before he entered the room.

"Sorry about being such a douche last night. Just know that I don't really like you, alright? Axel's been hurt by every guy he's dated so far and he's never been as interested in anyone as he much as he is in you. Sadly, he attracts shitheads that let him down in the end. Maybe I would've trusted you more if I'd met you prior to Axel becoming infatuated with you. But really, to me, you're just a pretty face that Axel wants to fuck. And I wasn't really joking about being a protective father. He's been hurt too much and he _really_ likes you," Reno informed him. "Prove to me you won't hurt him and I'll be nicer to you. And to prove it, just give it time. I'm old and stubborn, but eventually, I'll catch on and realize 'Hey, this kid's being serious.' Got it?" Then he continued on into the kitchen where he began making coffee, eggs, and sausage.

"Alright, I got it," Roxas said, mostly to himself. Before he could say anything, else, Reno began talking again.

"And also, I called your dad and told him you were sleeping over. Seems he knows Axel wants in your pants. He was worried about you leading him on. Ain't that nice of him? I like Cloud. He's pretty cool for an old man," Reno informed him.

That erased one of the worries Roxas had about sleeping over at the redhead's house. He smiled to himself before turning his attention back to Axel, who was mumbling things in his sleep. The blond managed to catch a random string of words that indicated Axel forgot his plunger and thus, could not complete his SATs. Roxas chuckled and flopped back down on top of his space heater. "You can say what you want," the blond murmured to himself, "but you're fucking adorable."

* * *

><p>Eventually, Roxas ended up at home in order to change and to see his parents. They tended to get upset when he and Sora happened to be gone for a while without seeing them; they didn't even need to see them longer than two minutes to be satisfied. Axel had decided to go back to his house for a quick shower, which gave Roxas the same idea. He entered his room not exactly expecting to see a shirtless Riku holding one of Sora's legs over his head with a only a single pant leg on. The pair of them stopped to turn and look at Roxas with terrified looks on their faces.<p>

"Um, excuse me?" the blond said as he just stared at them.

Sora immediately blushed bright red like a tomato. "He's just helping me get dressed because you weren't here," he hastily said as he tried to hastily pull up his pants but just ended up hurting himself and cringing.

"Right, sure," Roxas mumbled as he went to the closet. "That definitely explains why he's shirtless in our room at 11AM." Out of the corner of his eye, Roxas saw Riku and Sora blush.

"Look, I don't know what you're thinking, Roxas, but I'm totally straight, remember?" Sora demanded. "Riku slept over because you weren't here. And before you make wild accusations, he slept in the top bunk and I slept in the bottom bunk. He's shirtless because I wouldn't stop talking last night and he threw his shirt at me to get me to shut up, and I didn't give it back because I hid it so he wouldn't find it as revenge for throwing it at me in the first place. So you shut up. And you should know that I'm mad at you for sleeping with Axel."

Roxas rolled his eyes, slapped a hand to Riku's bare back because the vast expanse of skin just begged him to, and left the room. "Sure, Sora, you get all the bitches," he said over his shoulder as he entered the bathroom. His shower time exceeded its normal duration because the thoughts Sora inspired of him sleeping with Axel wouldn't leave him alone.

Once Roxas had finished with his shower, he found Sora waiting for him with Riku in their room.

"Roxy, how interested would you be in giving me a bath? I just realized I haven't bathed in days," the brunet stated with a sheepish smile on his face. '_It was embarrassing enough to have Riku dress me this morning, but if I got a bath from him, I'd just about die.'_

Roxas frowned and gave an exasperated sigh as he tossed his clothes into their hamper. "Not interested at all. You can bathe yourself, Sora, you're a big boy," the blond explained. "Anyway, you should've spoken up about it earlier. I may or may not have used all the hot water."

"I just need you to wrap my casts up. Please? Don't you love your own twin brother with whom you've shared a womb and life?" He jutted out his lower lip dangerously and forced it to quiver when Roxas looked unconvinced.

Thus, after wrapping up Sora's casts like he wanted, Roxas and Riku ended up on the couch in the living room downstairs. Roxas was waiting for Axel to show up, and Riku waited for the brunet to finish washing up. They sat together in awkward silence for a few minutes before Roxas just decided to start ranting about Reno. Riku would probably appreciate it anyway.

"So last night I accidentally ended up sleeping over at Axel's house, and I found out that Reno hates my fucking guts," the blond informed him.

Riku instantly grinned like the Cheshire cat. "Oh yeah? How did that happen?" he wondered.

"Well, at first, the night before we fell asleep, he was giving us grief for canoodling on the couch, which then turned into anger at me. The next morning, though, I woke up before Axel and Reno just happened to be up, too, and Axel and I, like, slept on the couch because, like I said, it was a total accident that I slept over there. Then he just came out and said that he didn't like me or trust me at all. He also compared you to me and said that you were a way better person for Axel, and I was mildly confused. The point being is that Reno hates me and there's nothing I can really do about it," the younger boy elaborated.

The silverette nodded his head in response. "Yeah, that sucks. Reno likes to hold grudges and stuff, too, so if you cross him, he'll probably hate you forever," he said with a grin. More seriously he said, "But really, you shouldn't worry about Reno not liking or trusting you. Reno's just very protective of Axel and since he doesn't know you all that well, he's just being cautious with you. Plus, Axel's way into you more than he was into any of the other dicks he dated in his life. He sort of has a past with being let down. He's always been the dump-_ee_, never the dump-_er_. So it makes sense that he's being wary of you."

"If you ever broke up with Axel, just," Riku raised his eyebrows and whistled while shaking his head slowly from side to side, "it wouldn't be good for him. He'd be absolutely crushed. Like, you have no idea."

Roxas frowned at these words. "Yeah. Before we were even dating, he kissed me as a way of confessing that he liked me, and I sort of—"

"Yeah, you fucking punched him!"

A thought struck Roxas at that moment. The thought had been weighing on his mind for a while now, but he'd always forgotten about it when either Axel or Riku was around. Even if he had remembered earlier, he wasn't sure if he'd have asked to verify the thought. His fear of the answer held him back. "Riku, did you and Axel used to date? Because Reno really made it seem that way, and it kind of makes sense."

Riku seemed to have expected the question based on the way he didn't react when the question reached him. He looked down at his hands for a second and answered with another question, "Does it matter to you if we did?"

It didn't really make sense to Roxas _why_ it mattered to him. After all, it wasn't like he could be jealous about it now. He couldn't fault Axel for wanting to date the silverette. He was certainly attractive. Instead of responding verbally he nodded. For whatever reason, it did matter.

A kind smile formed on Riku's face. "Nope, I never dated Axel," he said.

Of course, Roxas knew that he had, but it somehow helped to not hear it. He didn't have to accept the fact now and he didn't have to think about it anymore. He didn't feel inclined to know the details, either, which he felt relieved about. The blond nodded. "I like Axel," he said simply.

"Oh, I know." Riku grinned.

The front door opened at that point and both boys looked over to the entranceway to see Zexion there. He looked better than he had the previous day, but not by much. Roxas said a simple hello, but Riku grabbed at Zexion's shirt with one hand to bring him down closer to him and then ruffled his hair with his free hand, saying "Hey, cuz."

Zexion scowled and smacked his arms away to go sit next to Roxas. "Don't touch me, peasant," he ordered.

"Ooh, Zexion's feisty today," Riku teased. "That's a good sign. You seem stressed, though. Is Dem withholding sex?" He smirked at the bluenette.

Roxas chuckled as Zexion mocked his question. "You feeling better, Zexy? Since we're still going with them today, I guess that means you're okay with everything?"

Without much warning, the bookworm turned his glare on Roxas, despite the fact that he was clearly mad about other things. "Better? If by better you mean absolutely enraged, then, yes, I do feel better," he snorted. He took a moment to sigh and relax a little bit regardless of his previous irritation. "But you were right yesterday. I can't let him bother me this much. I'm trying to let everything go, but it isn't that simple."

"Oh, talking about ex-boyfriend troubles?" Riku wondered. "Did you meet Lexaeus again? Are you trying that 'just friends' thing?"

Confused, Roxas looked at Zexion. "Riku knows about Lexaeus? I thought your relationship was completely secret?"

The bluenette shrugged. "It was a secret. But when I say secret, I doubt I ever mean completely secret. Riku knows all my secrets and I know all his. Though we may not talk extensively, we are very close. That's how our relationship works. Riku doesn't exactly count as a person anyway. He's more like a brick wall that's always there." _'The only thing completely secret from Riku is all this business about inhuman abilities.'_

Upon hearing the words, Roxas narrowed his eyes at Zexion. If he and Riku shared all their secrets with each other, then how did Zexion's forehead attest to the fact that he knew nothing about Axel and Riku's relationship? And he'd know more about the girl who'd been blackmailing Riku into dating her. Roxas looked at Riku, a bit confused.

_'Sorry, Zexion, but you don't know __**all**__ my secrets,_' Riku's forehead read.

"Oh," Roxas murmured.

"Anyway, to answer your question, Riku, I am not trying to be friends with Lexaeus, but with the people who hang around him. And it's not at all my decision. I'm being forced into it, and it's forcing me to deal with everything that's happened," the bookworm continued on.

Riku just nodded in understanding. "If you want me to beat the shit out of him, the offer's always open. Just give me a call."

Zexion smiled appreciatively at that before a he realized something. "Also, if you see all of us at the fair today, just know that his friends are older than us. In some cases, a lot older. And in other cases, they might be the principal and vice principal of our school and Mr. Price," Zexion warned him.

The trust Zexion had in Riku surprised Roxas. Not that he doubted the strength of their relationship, but as Axel had stated, Zexion was a very secretive person. He didn't easily hand out information, much less information that could be used against him. This coupled with Riku's sharp perception made him a very well-informed person. He really knew what was going on. He could even tell that there was something different about Roxas and Zexion's group of friends.

"Got it. I'll make sure Sora doesn't freak out. He probably would," the silverette offered. "Oh, by the way Roxas, you should bring some spare clothes or something. Marluxia told me that you guys were gonna crash at my place after the festival. So I'd get a change of clothes or something unless you wanna sleep in your regular clothes."

With a nod, Roxas went to retrieve a change of clothes like Riku suggested. When he returned, the silverette asked, "So is Marluxia finally getting into Mr. Price's pants?"

Roxas saw Cloud, with a clothed Sora in his arms, coming down the stairs out of his peripheral vision and couldn't help but laugh at his father's expression when he heard the words, "I don't think he's managed to fuck him quite yet. But he probably will soon," leave Zexion's lips. The older blond's face contorted with both surprise and disgust.

"Hey, guys!" Sora greeted. "Good morning, Zexion! I didn't know you were coming over."

Tifa came down soon after and managed to catch Cloud in a kiss before he started walking down the hallway to the kitchen. "Good morning, Riku, I hope Roxas' filthy sheets didn't bother you too much," she greeted the silverette. She greeted Zexion with an expressionless glance.

"No, they were fine. But Roxas, I was meaning to ask, is that white stuff in your bed dried ice cream?" he asked with a smirk.

Roxas threw up his hands and sighed in exasperation. "And now everyone knows my secret. Thanks for revealing that, Riku. You're a pal." He smiled over at the older boy as Sora managed to roll himself into the living room.

"Sora, what are your plans for today?" Tifa wondered as she turned to her favorite son.

Sora smiled and chuckled before he said, "I'm going to the New Year's fair with Riku and Kairi. We're gonna stay until midnight to countdown. Apparently, they have a fireworks display if the weather is clear enough when it reaches midnight, and then I'm probably gonna sleep over at his house. Is that okay?"

Tifa nodded. "Yeah that's fine. Roxas, why don't you have nice, clean plans like that? You're probably going to another high school party at that Demyx's house, aren't you? You remember how that turned out on Halloween, right?"

"Mom, I'm basically doing the same thing as Sora except with my own friends!" Roxas corrected her, exasperated. "Just because it's a holiday doesn't mean I want to binge drink all night long."

Instead of reacting to being proved wrong, Tifa nodded he head. "Good. Because your father and I are going to a New Year's Eve party tonight and we won't be back until tomorrow." And with that, she followed Cloud into the kitchen.

"Fucking bitch," Roxas grumbled under his breath as he glared at where his mother had disappeared down the hall.

"Hey, whoa, Roxy, that's not cool, okay? She's our mom! She _made_ us," Sora scolded, prompting Roxas to roll his eyes.

"So, Roxas, Axel's gonna come pick us up. Well, Axel driving Dem's car. Demyx is resting his hands and fingers for some musical critique he has tomorrow. He told me they'd be here in approximately 20 minutes. We're going out for brunch first, apparently," Zexion explained.

Sora snorted. "Axel's a creep," he nearly growled. "Last night, he kept texting me pictures of you sleeping, Roxy. He finally stopped at, like, three in the morning because I threatened to burn all the sweaters you've stolen from him. Of course he backed down after that."

Riku grinned at Roxas while Zexion looked at the blond with a confused expression on his face. Hastily, he said, "I didn't steal those sweaters! Axel just forgets them here whenever he comes over!"

Of course, Riku knew the truth and was unconvinced. Zexion and Sora, however, bought it, evidenced by the way that the brunet glared at his twin. "You. Broke. Our. Deal," he growled. "You've been sneaking him over here, haven't you?" Before even letting his brother reply, Sora continued on. "Roxas, do you realize how stupid of a decision that is? He could easily overpower you and take advantage of you! Look, watch this video he sent to me last night; it proves he wants in your pants and nothing else!" He pulled out his phone and looked through it for a moment before shoving the thing into Roxas' face.

Sure enough, a video was playing of Roxas sleeping against Axel's chest. Axel began gloating and teasing Sora about the fact that they were sleeping together. At one point, he recorded himself grabbing a handful of the younger boy's ass, to which sleeping Roxas responded by smiling and snuggling tighter against him.

Normally Roxas would've thought the video funny and, secretly, cute, but the fact that this was physical evidence of their real relationship scared him. Sora didn't seem to realize that they were, indeed, in a relationship, but Zexion wasn't that blind and he didn't want to tell Zexion quite yet. He knew Zexion would most likely be happy for him and would easily keep the secret, but the idea of having too many people know bothered Roxas. The more the people that knew, the higher chance that the secret would get out.

"He's totally joking in the video, Sora. If he wanted to molest me, he would've done it while I was asleep and completely defenseless. And he definitely wouldn't molest me and then record a video of him squeezing my ass in my sleep. That would incriminate him if I ever wanted to press charges or anything for the molest that would have occurred."

"Why were you sleeping curled up with Axel in the first place?" Zexion wondered, still very confused by this new information. _'Could it be that Axel and Roxas are in a relationship? It couldn't possibly be because Roxas definitely would've told me about it sooner.'_

That thought brought guilt onto Roxas' conscience. He couldn't bring himself to lie, so he just decided to tell the truth, but leave out a few minor details that changed the situation a bit. "We were watching TV and accidently fell asleep. I like to cuddle with things in my sleep, but you already knew that from those two times we fell asleep cuddling," he explained. He was a little worried Zexion would be skeptical of his response because one of the times he'd curled up with the bookworm in his sleep was after they'd been fooling around.

Instead of responding verbally, Zexion nodded in understanding. _'Relax, Zexion, you're worrying yourself over things that shouldn't be worrying you. Because Demyx has been acting secretive lately, you're just assuming things are happening that really aren't.'_

If Roxas ever told anyone else about his relationship, Zexion would have to be the first he informed. Luckily Roxas forgot his guilt when he and Zexion got texts from Demyx that they were outside waiting for them. They said their goodbyes to Riku and Sora before continuing outside to Demyx's car with Axel at the wheel.

"You're such a douchebag," Roxas accused Axel when he entered the car and took the passenger's seat next to the redhead.

Zexion settled in the back with Demyx and Roxas was vaguely aware of them as they began making out almost immediately.

"Me? A douchebag?" the redhead questioned innocently. He chuckled at the disappointed look on Roxas' face. "So I take it that Sora told you about those pictures and the video?"

"Are you trying to ruin my life?" the blond wondered sarcastically.

Zexion pinned Demyx to the backseat, their bodies twisting awkwardly with the seat belts restraining them.

"Hey, I know this is your car, Demyx, but please keep the clothes on at least, you two! Remember that there are two other people in the car with you," Axel said as he noticed this new development as well.

"Fine, we'll just make out till we get to the restaurant. Then I will be giving Zexion head because he deserves that and only after that will I enter the eating establishment. His semen will serve as my appetizer," Demyx explained.

Zexion turned bright red while Roxas and Axel frowned and cried out "Ewww!"

* * *

><p>"Alright, so we're going to the New Year's fair on the outskirts of town with the rest of the Organization. Zexion told me he would deal with Lexaeus being there, so we're all going. Roxas, I know you're new to this experience, but basically, the fair has rides and booths and things like that, so we walk through its entirety and just kind of hang out," Marluxia explained between bites of his French toast.<p>

Roxas almost wanted to laugh at how Marluxia had appointed himself leader of their little group and how everyone basically just followed without any complaints. It made sense, though, since Marluxia was the most charismatic of them all, and the only one with real leadership capabilities.

Everyone sat together in a café that looked like a wannabe Denny's or IHOP in this very large family-sized booth. Naminé sat on one end and Demyx sat on the other. They all had some form of food in front of them, most of them sharing together, except for Marluxia who insisted no one even touch his plate lest he bite their hand off. Axel and Roxas shared an order of French fries and tried not to grin whenever they brushed hands while grabbing for another fry.

"We usually stay at the fair until midnight because there's always a countdown and then a fireworks show for New Year's Day. After the fair, we usually end up at someone's house to crash for the night. This year, I'm almost positive Riku said we could go to his house, so yes, we'll be sleeping there. Got it, Roxas?" the pinkette prompted.

"Yeah, I got it," he murmured, trying not to blush when Axel ran a hand up and down his leg under the table That had definitely made it difficult to concentrate for the rest of their time there.

* * *

><p>A couple of hours later, they were at the fairgrounds, which Roxas had never seen or been to before. He could see various rides sitting inside a giant gated-off area and, since the sun was at its peak and about to begin the descent towards the horizon, the neon lights in the fair barely illuminated the bright sky, but would become more obvious within the next couple of hours. Living in Destiny Islands, Roxas wasn't quite used to it getting dark at four thirty in the afternoon. Still, it was nice.<p>

Marluxia and Axel had tried to park close to each other, but there were so many people there that a few workers from the fair had to direct traffic and tell them where to park. They ended up parking in two different rows of spaces and met up on the walk towards the entrance to the fair. Zexion had a book in his hands, which Marluxia promptly ripped up once their two groups converged.

"You're going to have to actually participate in today's festivities, Zexy," he chided as he tore apart the novel and tossed the pieces into a trashcan strangely full of unrecycled bottles just outside the entrance of the fair.

Zexion, of course, did not take this offense well. Before he could do anything rash, Demyx grabbed onto the smaller boy and restrained him. "That was a _library book_, Marluxia!" he seethed when he realized he couldn't do any bodily harm the older male.

"Don't worry, Zexy, I'll replace it!" Demyx promised with a pleading look in his eyes. He made sure to lock gazes with the bluenette, which seemed to calm him down a considerable amount. He just bit back a growl as he shook off his boyfriend's arms and straightened out his clothes.

"Naminé gets to keep her sketchbook," he mumbled under his breath but neither said nor did anything more.

"Right, so we're supposed to wait for the Organization here. We're going to go in together with them, so be on the lookout," Marluxia instructed as they approached the crowd of people waiting outside the entrance of the fair. Some were waiting around outside for other people, like them, and others were in line to purchase admission tickets.

They waited near a light post, Demyx, Zexion, and Roxas sitting down while the others stood and Naminé began furiously sketching in her book as she gazed at the fair. She and Larxene spoke together quietly in hushed tones, Marluxia simply kept watch, Axel and Roxas texted less than appropriate things back and forth and Demyx whispered things into Zexion's ear that seemed to have a calming effect on the already stressed boy.

Eventually, the Organization appeared, Lexaeus' head poking above everyone else's. Upon seeing them, the trio on the floor got to their feet.

All the relaxation Demyx had tried to instill in Zexion seemed to vanish, Roxas noticed, for his face contorted in displeasure and he grew tenser just at the sight of the man. He felt bad for Zexion, but couldn't say anything before he found himself buried in someone's chest that _definitely_ did not belong to Axel.

"Hey, I was so distracted by Demyx yesterday I didn't even notice you, kiddo," a creepy sounding voice said, making Roxas cringe at the sound. "You're seriously cute."

He looked up and realized he was in Xigbar's arms. "Uh…" Roxas mumbled, not quite sure how to react.

"You look a little young, but you'll be fine as hell when you grow up a bit, so I might as well try to lock you down now, you know?" he said as he grinned down at the blond.

"Hey, you get your syphilis-infested hands off him! He's straight, you know!" Naminé's voice called out.

Roxas felt very grateful for that, especially when the girl helped him escape the man's grasp with a strong tug. The blond grinned at Naminé. "Thanks, Nam, I thought something terrible was about to befall the homeland for a second," he chuckled weakly as they joined the line with the other Organization members. He shot a wary look at Xigbar, who seemed disappointed for maybe half a second before he moved on to harass Demyx again like he had the previous day.

"It's no problem at all," she murmured with a giggle as she gave him a small hug.

Axel looked angry about the exchange, Roxas noticed out of the corner of his eye. He smiled a bit and then continued to take in the scene. Marluxia and Vexen seemed to really want to interact with the furtive glances they sent each other, but they couldn't appear too eager to speak because then Mr. Diskin—_Xemnas_ or Saïx might have been able to guess about their romantic feelings for each other. Naminé was also surveying the scene and drawing on a different page in her sketchbook and still she was speaking quietly with Larxene. Zexion was trying his best not to look at Lexaeus, but said man seemed to be trying to get his attention by looking at him. Larxene, in addition to speaking with Naminé had her arm slinked around Luxord's waist and his around hers. Xemnas and Saïx were studying everyone and whispering to each other every so often, Xigbar was pestering Demyx, who tried very hard to ignore him while Luxord talked at Xigbar about getting something to drink once inside the fairgrounds.

Even though they were still getting acquainted, Roxas couldn't help but notice how well their groups went together already. Everyone had a certain niche or pair of two people. The idea that he belonged with all of these people made him happy and he was stoked to get to know the other members of the Organization.

Once they'd gotten their tickets and entered the fair, everyone began trying to decide where to go first and which path around the fair to take. Xemnas, being leader, ended up making the final decision that they would go from the right, starting at the displays of awards people had received for entering different homemade items into the fair. Everyone seemed okay with this decision, so they began walking.

Roxas remained quiet, despite the fact that Axel was trying to talk to him, so that he could fully drink in the fair experience. Back in Destiny Islands, they'd never had fairs like this for any reason. The closest to the fair they got was the Christmas parade and the summer parade, and then a street fair that really wasn't a fair at all. Just a group of people selling their crafts, artwork, and products on Main Street in the middle of the small plaza that served as their marketplace at the peak of tourism. Even Twilight Town, a larger town located on a different island from the one his house resided on, skimped on parades and festivals. The most they had were dances targeted at old people to give them something to entertain themselves with.

The scent of fried foods wafted freely through the air along with the smell of meats and even corn. Roxas already felt sufficiently full after having brunch at the café, but the smells made his mouth water and he wanted to buy food right away. Unfortunately, they probably wouldn't be eating until later.

"Hey, Roxas! Did you hear what I said?" Axel finally shouted into the blond's ear, startling him.

The boy jumped and glared up at the redhead giving him his usual shit-eating grin. "What?" he demanded.

"I asked you a question! God, Rox, stop ignoring me all the time!" the older boy ordered with a mock pout on his face.

Roxas chuckled. "I would, but unfortunately for you, I hate you. Therefore, I must ignore you at all costs," he teased. This banter felt a little more romantic and flirty than normal, which worried him a bit. Even if he and Axel had been openly in a relationship, Roxas had never been a big fan of PDA whether others were doing it or himself. He just didn't think other people needed to see the tender moments in romantic relationships. He thought those were private matters.

"Anyway, what was your question?" Roxas wondered, hoping to end the banter.

"I asked if they ever have fairs like this in Destiny Islands."

Simply, Roxas shook his head before his eye caught on a group of kids running between the other Organization members. "Nah, they don't have anything like this there. Parades and old people dances are Destiny Islands' ideas of holiday fun." He smiled as his eyes followed the kids as they ran to their parents.

They began to approach a beer stand, which made Luxord and Xigbar eager to buy some alcohol, so the members had to stand around and wait for a few minutes while they bought beer. Incidentally, when Xigbar and Luxord returned to the group with their beer, Xigbar realized that he'd forgotten his wallet at the booth, so he handed his beer to Demyx with a wink and asked him to hold it. This led to Zexion swiping the beverage from his boyfriend and downing it in one go. Luckily for him, Saïx and Xemnas had been busy talking quietly together and missed it. Everyone else who saw, including Roxas, was surprised at this.

"Jeez, Zexion, you're drinking awfully early," Marluxia pointed out as the bluenette finished off the beverage.

Zexion just grinned and before he tossed the now empty plastic cup into the trashcan near them and said, "There's no way I can make it through the night completely sober."

Mr. Price seemed the most surprised of them all. '_Zexion drinks alcohol? But he's likely no older than sixteen!_' He frowned at the bookworm and scolded, "You know you aren't allowed to drink alcohol before you're 21 years of age."

A dangerous look appeared in Zexion's eyes and he made a predatory expression half like a grin and a glare at the same time. It almost looked sarcastic. "You know, I really couldn't care less," he sneered in a caustic voice that wasn't even intended for the teacher in the first place. It was just a result of the combination of stressors present, Lexaeus being the primary one.

"Zexy," Demyx murmured warningly with a somber look on his face, but didn't seem to know what to say to him. Instead, he wrapped his arms around the smaller male and squeezed him. "Don't be a buttface!" His voice was more chipper this time around. He placed a big, overly exaggerated kiss on the boy's cheek before snuggling him against his chest some more.

Roxas couldn't help but notice the hostility and jealousy on Lexaeus' face as this happened. His hands were balled into throbbing fists and his eyes seemed green with envy. '_Get your hands __**off my Zexion**__!_' his forehead read. Roxas felt tempted to introduce the giant man to his fist, but he knew if they got into a fight, he'd most likely lose and then get in trouble because Xemnas and Saïx were there. Instead, he just returned to his conversation with Axel.

When Xigbar returned, he looked really confused at the disappearance of his drink. He turned an accusatory gaze onto Demyx. "You little shit! You drank my beer!" he pointed.

Demyx shook his head. "No way! I didn't drink your beer. I don't even like beer! It tastes bad and I don't like it at all, so no, I didn't drink your beer, old man," he responded, clearly intent on protecting Zexion. Nobody else spoke up to turn Zexion in or to take the blame, so Xigbar just grumbled angrily and said he would get another one later. Thus, everyone moved on to the exhibits.

Even though they weren't allowed to touch or eat any of the entries in the fair, Roxas liked seeing them anyway. Axel and Demyx made fun of the silly categories like table-setting. Naminé found great pleasure in the art exhibits and joined Axel and Demyx in the bashing of the works. She also somehow wound up attached to Roxas by the arm. She led him around to different pictures and got especially close to him when they stood still. Roxas just figured she was cold since, holy fuck, was it freezing. Why would they have a mostly outside fair in the middle of winter when it was below seven degrees? Okay, so the exhibits were inside but it was still pretty cold.

Everything seemed to be going smoothly; everyone was attempting to get along and the two groups bonded together reasonably well. Unfortunately, all was not okay when they began transitioning over to the rides section of the fair. A path bridged the two areas and on either side of the path were booths. People were coming and going along the path with their group members and as they were entering the area between the rides and the exhibits, some oafish boys deliberately crashed into Zexion hard enough to knock him to the floor as he and Demyx walked by them. It was lucky he didn't hit the table they were passing on his way to the ground because they'd shoved him so hard he would've been seriously injured if he'd hit it.

"Faggot!" they yelled at him and laughed. They'd seen Zexion and Demyx walking hand in hand and obviously didn't like it. On their foreheads, Roxas could tell that one of them was actually in turmoil because he suspected that he himself was gay. That made Roxas' blood boil and he noticed that everyone else's blood seemed to boil, even if they didn't know that little tidbit, especially Lexaeus' and Demyx's.

Marluxia barred the boys' path when they tried to continue walking as Demyx rushed to Zexion's aid and began making sure he was okay. The expression on his face was absolutely terrifying, twisted up into a furious glare hidden behind gentlemanly politeness. "Excuse me, can I help you gentlemen?" he demanded in a very curt and abrasive fashion. He had a good few inches on even the tallest boy in the opposing group and obviously intimidated them by the way they backed up a bit and exchanged glances with each other.

The guy who'd pushed Zexion stepped forward and warned, "You better get out of my way, Appletini, before you end up like your little boyfriend."

Before anything could progress any further, Xemnas and Saix took over the situation much to the newfound terror of the offending group at their recognition. Xemnas gently pushed Marluxia aside and demanded to know their names and which school they all went to while Saix watched all of them to ensure none got away. '_Ahh, excellent,_' Xemnas' forehead said when he heard that they were actually students from Radiant Garden Union High School. He took down their names in his phone and assured the boys, who were rightfully terrified at this point, that they would not be allowed to return Monday or even the first week back at school. He even went as far as to say they may be expelled if the superintendent sided with him on the matter.

Zexion seemed dazed as he got to his feet, looking not completely mentally gathered at both being shoved to the ground and at the display of poetic justice that had just taken place. He looked up at Xemnas with a confused expression and murmured, "We're not even in school."

"I don't want bullies at my school, and I do everything within my power to protect my students. Don't let them get to you, Zexion," was the answer, as well as a pat on the shoulder.

The air was a bit tense after that, but it slowly faded as they approached the rides. Demyx bought enough ride tickets to last for days, but he assured Roxas that they'd all be gone by the end of the day. Zexion had grimaced at the words, and the blond would soon understand why. Demyx just grinned instead of explaining, and his thoughts always seemed to be focused on how much he wanted to smother Zexion to death for being so cute, or something to that effect, which was inconvenient for Roxas at all times.

The older members of the Organization went ahead to the food and games area to find a table for when the younger members got tired of riding and wanted to get something to eat. Marluxia didn't seem to want to go on rides, so he went with Xemnas, Saix, Vexen, Xaldin, and Lexaeus to go find a table, which made everyone in the younger group grin because they knew he just wanted some quality time with Vexen. Xigbar and Luxord were the only members of the adult group that also wanted to go on rides, so they all continued onwards.

Naminé wanted to sit next to Roxas on every ride, and she never let go of his arm for long, which was bothering Axel, as far as Roxas could tell. Of course, Roxas didn't exactly mind Axel's jealousy and he definitely loved the power he had right now over his boyfriend's emotions, so he let Naminé do as she pleased.

On one particular ride, a giant perpetual loop-de-loop called the Ring of Fire, Axel and Demyx insisted on riding it over and over again. They dragged Zexion along, but let everyone else rest as they continually rode and got back into the short line to ride again. Naminé explained to Roxas vaguely that this was a tradition that they did every year. She seemed too absorbed in her sketching the crowds and rides to really speak all that much which was an odd change in her formerly clingy behavior. The pair just waited by the exit when they were finished riding for the first time. Everyone else kept going, however.

Luxord, Larxene, and Xigbar tried to keep up with the amount of times Demyx, Axel, and Zexion rode, but Luxord and Larxene quit after three rides while Xigbar managed to stick out five rides. On the last one, he seemed particularly scattered in his mental facilities. Axel, Demyx, and Zexion rode the thing at least twelve times before finally, Zexion came running out of the exit and began promptly vomiting in the trashcan strategically placed next to the exit, probably for a situation such as this.

Roxas, Luxord, and Xigbar were alarmed when they witnessed him hacking up his stomach's contents, but Naminé and Larxene seemed very accustomed to it. Demyx held Zexion's hair for him and rubbed gentle circles into his back as he retched despite the fact that he and Axel could not stop laughing.

"Come on, Zexy, it's just a _ride_!" Axel teased.

"Fuck you," Zexion managed to burp out without ever taking his head out of the can. When he finally stopped throwing up, he excused himself to go brush his teeth in the bathroom. Naminé was definitely right; Zexion had even packed himself a toothbrush and a little packet of toothpaste in anticipation of this tradition.

Everyone else, except for Naminé, waited for Zexion to return before they began walking over to the tables where the older members had gone. Naminé had gone ahead to the food area already, saying that she was tired of standing around. As the rest of them headed to the eating area, Roxas found himself face to face with Riku, Sora, and Kairi. The three were walking alone, Kairi with pink cotton candy in her hand and Riku pushing Sora, who carried a large stuffed whale in his lap.

"Hey, Roxy!" Sora greeted cheerfully. "Oh, and hello to you too, Demyx."

Before Roxas or Demyx could respond, Xigbar butted in. "Who is this?" he asked, shoving a finger into Sora's face.

Roxas pushed Xigbar away from the brunet and huffed. "He's my twin brother, Sora. Sora, you don't want to know this guy, trust me."

"Yeah," the brunet scrunched up his nose, "Riku told me everything, but this guy seems particularly gross. Anyway," his face brightened up considerably, "Riku told me you guys were gonna come sleep at his house, too, so I'm excited. We get to have a sleepover, Roxy!"

"Sora, we're brothers," Roxas murmured as he rolled his eyes. "We always have sleepovers. We live together."

"Well, yeah, but not at other people's houses! This is the first time, well not if you count Hayner's house, that we'll be having a sleepover together at someone else's house!" Sora wiggled in his excitement and his smile made Roxas just want to let the brunet have this moment. "Well, we'll see you guys around. Bye!" And with that, the trio continued walking.

Riku paused before he completely passed Zexion to ruffle his hair and drawl "Cuuuuz," to which Zexion replied by glaring.

They continued on ahead after that and quickly found their comrades when they entered the food and games section of the fair. No other table had both a giant man _and_ a guy with hot pink hair sitting there. As they approached, Naminé revealed that she'd saved a seat between her and Marluxia for Roxas, which made Larxene chortle. Axel seemed almost at the end of his rope at this point, so Demyx said that they would go get food for everyone who wanted it and that Axel should go with him to help carry it all. The redhead seemed grateful for the distraction, so the two left with everyone's orders. As it had turned out, no one had gone to get their food yet, so Saïx tagged along with them to help pay and to help carry food.

Zexion slumped into the seat across from Roxas with an open spot on either side of him for both Axel and Demyx and buried his face in his arms on the table. He seemed very under the weather at this point, which made Roxas feel bad for him.

Everyone was awkwardly quiet after the three members left to retrieve sustenance for them all. Lexaeus had taken to staring at Zexion with interest and concern apparent on his face. Everyone else seemed to notice his blatant ogling, so Larxene spoke up.

"So what's the deal with you two losers, exactly?" she demanded, glaring at Lexaeus with a judgmental glint in her eyes. '_This guy's a fucking freak. Bookworm over there may not be my favorite, but if it's made him __**this**__ unhappy to be around this guy again, he must've done something terrible._' Roxas thought that kind of sweet because that was about as nice as Larxene got and the fact that she felt sympathetic for Zexion meant a lot.

Zexion tilted his head upwards so that his eye was poking out from behind his bangs when Lexaeus explained curtly, "We used to date."

Everyone sat there in disbelief for a second, looking from Zexion and Lexaeus alternately, most likely due to the contrast in their sizes. "You used to date each other? How long ago did you break up?" Vexen wondered aloud, voicing similar thoughts to those of everyone around them.

"Sometime in June or July," Zexion answered.

"It was July 7th," Lexaeus corrected.

"Whenever the fuck," the much smaller male snorted, which seemed to make Lexaeus tremble a bit.

"How long did you date for?" Marluxia wondered.

"Around nine months," Lexaeus murmured. '_Nine wonderful months that I screwed up_.'

"He's the one that dumped me, before you ask," Zexion added.

"Why?" Vexen seemed very concerned to hear all about this. '_I suppose it makes sense that Lexaeus and Zexion would date; they do seem like they'd get along very well. But if they got along then why would Lexaeus have dumped him? And why didn't he tell me anything about his relationship with Zexion at all?_'

"Ask him. I don't know. He just told me we were over and ceased all further contact," the bluenette snorted.

Pain and guilt twisted up Lexaeus' strong facial features and his shoulders slumped a little. "I was… worried about going to college and leaving you behind," he murmured. '_I cheated._'

Roxas went rigidly straight in his seat suddenly and glared intensely at Lexaeus. Honestly, the blond didn't know what was worse; the fact that Lexaeus had dumped Zexion through text without explaining anything at all or the fact that he'd cheated and lied so that Zexion didn't know anything about it.

Everyone seemed to notice the blond's sudden burst of movement and Lexaeus looked at him fearfully.

"Liar," Roxas practically spat. He wanted to go off on a tangent yelling and screaming at the huge man, but he didn't really know Lexaeus that well, they were in public, and he wanted to force him to say it on his own.

"Um," the giant murmured before continuing, "well, I didn't want to have to keep you a secret anymore…" Roxas saw that that was actually true, so he didn't say anything quite yet.

Zexion glared down at the table as Lexaeus said this. "Because you were embarrassed to be with me." He pulled violently at the sleeves of his sweater.

"No! It wasn't that, Zexion," Lexaeus promised in a pleading voice. "It wasn't, I swear." He reached his arm across the table to touch Zexion's hand, but the bookworm hastily jerked his arms off the table before he could make contact.

Rejected, the giant retreated. "I just, I thought it would be hard to explain why I was dating a freshman as a senior. My friends would've thought the age and size difference was creepy. And I didn't want you to have to go through that, so I never told anyone about us. And I didn't know you were gifted as well, so I thought you'd be scared if you found out."

These words were also true, and when he stopped speaking, everyone looked expectantly at Roxas. "That's not all," he informed them, putting Lexaeus in a panic, as if he couldn't really believe that Roxas could tell that he was lying.

Finally, the huge man hunched over even more in shame. He let out a sigh and murmured, "I cheated on you."

When those words left Lexaeus' mouth, Zexion's entire face fell and broke away from angry and hateful to completely heartbroken and dejected. This only lasted for a moment, though, for he regained his composure a moment later. "It was nothing I hadn't suspected," he mumbled, his voice sad and slow. "At least now I know for sure now…"

Even more tension rose, and mostly everyone stared at Lexaeus with either disappointment or anger in their eyes.

"Zexion, I just wanted you to know that I'm really-"

"Shut up!" Zexion barked. "I don't give a shit how sorry you are!" he roared. "I'm glad we've broken up! I would much rather be alone than with some douchebag who thinks it a good idea to cheat on his partner! And I'm not even alone. I have Demyx. And he's three times the boyfriend that you ever were!"

Everyone remained quiet for a few seconds, even Xigbar, because no one knew what to say after that. They all had different opinions on the situation, but Roxas could tell everyone felt bad for Zexion and some degree of disappointment with Lexaeus.

Luckily, Axel, Saïx, and Demyx returned after only a brief moment of silence. Axel took the seat to the right of Zexion while Demyx claimed the one on the left. Saïx reclaimed the seat next to Xemnas and then the three distributed the food in their arms.

"What's up with you guys? Why so serious?" Demyx wondered and then chuckled to himself over the reference he'd made. He took notice of Zexion's glum state immediately, and wrapped an arm around the boy's waist. When Zexion slowly sat up, his boyfriend took the opportunity to place several butterfly kisses on his cheek, forehead, and chin.

Roxas noticed, with some degree of satisfaction, that Lexaeus averted his eyes from the display and the fact that Zexion smiled and chuckled at the sudden affection. Jealousy had claimed his thoughts, along with self-hatred, which normally Roxas would've abhorred, but in this case, he felt the giant deserved to feel at least a little bad.

The tension died down after the little display, and everyone got caught up in their own conversations, though it was more like the older members had one conversation and the younger members had a different conversation. They hadn't mingled quite that well yet.

"So what were y'all talking about while we were away?" Demyx wondered before he set to work on one of the three corn dogs in front of him.

"Today we discovered that our hero, Zexion, used to date that pile of rocks over there and that said pile of rocks cheated on him and then dumped him," Marluxia informed him.

Demyx scowled in response before he pulled the bluenette into his side and kissed him on the top of his head. "Some people just abandon the most wonderful, beautiful things." He took a moment to shrug before he grabbed Zexion by the chin. "Oh well, that's good for me, then," he said with a smile before leaning in to kiss Zexion, who stopped him by slapping a hand to his mouth.

"Wipe that grease off your face, and then you may kiss me," Zexion instructed him, fixing the swimmer with a loving stare. And everything went back to normal. Well, relatively normal.

Naminé still wouldn't detach herself from Roxas, which, while it was working to make Axel jealous, was beginning to get annoying. He didn't really like clinginess and this was just grating on his nerves because she'd adjust herself to Roxas' movements so that she was always essentially in the same position. Despite the fact that he really wanted to tell her to let go of him, he wanted to avoid confrontation. They'd already had a lot of tension in their group today, and they didn't need any more stress amongst them. He liked to think he was taking one for the team.

"Hey, is Riku gonna have weed at his house, do you think?" Larxene asked Marluxia.

The pinkette laughed at that. "Sweetie, this is _Riku_ we're talking about. Of course he will! I doubt he'll share it with us, though. It's a pity, really." He frowned.

"Well, he said he's been trying to get rid of his stash for a while now. He said he doesn't really want to sell it, though, so maybe he will just share it," Zexion interjected.

Roxas looked at his friends incredulously. "You guys do weed?" he wondered, feeling a bit uncomfortable. It wasn't that he really had anything against the consumption of marijuana, he'd just never been around it, and all he could think about was Sora's long-winded rants about the drug. Plus, his friends had never really mentioned it up until this point.

"Not often, but today is a special occasion," Axel responded. "Why? Has wittle Woxy never had weed before?" he wondered in his baby voice.

Roxas rolled his eyes and snorted.

"There was some at Seifer's Halloween party. You didn't try it then?" Marluxia wondered.

Everyone just kind of stared at Marluxia a moment.

"Marly, there wasn't any weed," Axel corrected him. "I guess you wouldn't know, considering _you never made it to the party_," the redhead reminded him before he, along with everyone else, positively bust a gut and howled with laughter at the fact that Marluxia had forgotten about Halloween, and then at the face the pinkette made in response to being laughed at.

Vaguely, Roxas saw the adults quiet down and stare at them in their fit of laughter with confused eyes, but then Marluxia's face turned red and he stood up to lean across the table and shove Axel backwards to the floor on his ass, and then Roxas couldn't see very much at all because tears clouded his vision. Slowly, very slowly, the laughter died down before it got completely quiet and they started laughing again. This happened a few times until they finally stopped completely, a few chuckles the only remnants of the fit.

"You're all assholes," Marluxia grumbled.

Roxas' phone rang shortly thereafter with Sora's name on the caller ID. The blond raised an eyebrow curiously before answering the device. "Hello?"

"Hey, Roxy, where are you?" Sora's voice sounded panicked and anxious, making Roxas immediately concerned for his twin.

"In the food court area, why? Are you okay?" he questioned.

"Mmm, I'm okay, I guess. Can I come hang out with you and your friends? I really need you. I did something stupid."

It took Roxas a moment to consider the idea. He definitely wanted to be there for his brother, but at the same time, he worried about the other part of the Organization. If it had been just his usual group alone, then this wouldn't be a problem at all. He took his cell phone away from his ear for a second and asked Marluxia, "Hey, do you think it's okay if Sora hangs out with us?"

Marluxia shrugged before extending the question to Vexen, who then shared it with Xemnas. Xemnas looked a little concerned, and gave Roxas a look for a second as if trying to gauge how much he wanted this. He nodded his head after a moment. '_I suppose this __**would **__be a good opportunity for Vexen to study them a bit, being that they're twins who don't both have gifts._'

Roxas smiled and invited his twin over. Before he could ask what exactly he'd done that was so stupid he had to run from Riku and Kairi, Sora had already hung up. That left him a little on edge, but he tried not to let it show. Despite his efforts, Axel gave him a reassuring smile.

'_Don't worry so much, Rox,_' his forehead read.

The fact that Axel spoke to him through his thoughts absolutely thrilled Roxas for some reason. Nobody else at all had realized that they could communicate with the blond through thoughts, so it was almost like their own little secret language. He'd been considering telling Zexion at least about it, but now decided against it. He wanted it to stay a secret.

When Sora arrived, he had a fake smile plastered to his face and thanked Roxas for letting him roll with them.

"Oh, how the tables have turned," Roxas crooned, teasing his twin for the reversal of their situation. Usually Roxas was the one to follow Sora around.

Sora grinned and chuckled. "Hey, shut up, this is a one-time thing. I'm not as lonely as you are on a regular basis." He rolled up to the end of the table between Naminé and Demyx.

Axel gave Sora a shit-eating grin, and asked, "So how's Riku?"

Immediately, the brunet's face fell and he glowered at the redhead. "Don't you dare talk to me, demon. I'm not in the mood to deal with you right now," he growled. "Roxy, I'll explain everything later," he then promised his twin.

"So, Roxas, this is your brother, then?" Vexen asked as he eyed Sora curiously. All the older members of the Organization looked surprised that he was in a wheelchair despite them being twins, but nobody said anything about it quite yet.

"Yeah. This is Sora. We're fraternal twins," he introduced the brunet and jerked a thumb over in his direction.

"Why is he a cripple?" Xigbar asked, gaining him glares from the other older members of the organization.

"Oh my god, you can't just ask people why they're cripples!" Marluxia scolded melodramatically, making Larxene and Naminé giggle.

"I'm not normally a cripple," Sora defended himself with a pout on his face. "Roxy and I got into a car crash a few weeks ago and both my legs got broken," he explained, then elaborated, "I was driving but it totally wasn't my fault because we were at an intersection and the light was green and then this drunk driver floored it through the stop light going the other way and smashed into us at, like, 60mph and we spun out into a light post. It could've been worse, though, because he could've T-boned us, and in that case, I probably would've died, but I'm pretty much okay, so I guess I got lucky. And Roxy only got whiplash, so he's pretty much okay, too."

"How long until you get out of that chair?" Luxord wondered.

"Just a couple of weeks. Probably less because I'm, like, super antsy and I'll probably start walking next week even though I'm not supposed to put any weight on my legs until they're completely better. I have a problem with sitting still, so this is absolute torture for me. I think it would've been better if Roxas had his legs broken instead of me because he doesn't even do anything anyway." Though he sounded serious, the look on his face clearly expressed that he was joking about the last part.

"Well fuck you, too," Roxas responded.

"Fight me, yo," Sora countered, puffing out his chest.

"Nah, bitch, you don't want none of this," the blond parried, shaking his head in amusement.

"Excuse you, I want it all. Give it to me, Roxas." Sora immediately switched gears, giving the blond a supposed lusty gaze and winking.

Roxas looked the brunet up and down and twisted his face up into one of obvious disgust and displeasure. "You're fucking weird. And your parents dress you funny."

"Gah, I'm so excited! We get to sleep together tonight; I just remembered!" Sora exclaimed in a celebratory tone.

"Whoa, whoa, you two, unless you wanna take one of Riku's brothers' rooms, there's only gonna be one open room for that, and Zexion and I happen to have that reserved, because it's his room, anyway," Demyx interrupted.

"Demyx, you're blocking my game hardcore right now. I hope you know this," Sora deadpanned. His ocean eyes still expressed his delight in the current conversation, however.

"Deal with it. We got dibs," the sandy blond responded and then stuck his tongue out at Sora, who promptly reciprocated the action. "But if you _wanted to_, I'm sure Riku's bed will be free. Well, you know, with Riku inside of it. You know." He winked at Sora, who immediately glared daggers in return, which surprised Demyx. "Whoa, I'm totally joking, dude," he immediately backpedaled.

"I'm not exactly in the mood for Riku jokes," the brunet grumbled. Under his anger, though, Roxas could easily recognize his despondence. '_Jeez, I screwed everything up. Why am I such an idiot?_'

They sat there and talked for a while as everyone finished their food. Roxas felt very accomplished by the end of their meal because he'd managed to make Zexion laugh. He had pulled an onion ring from the little tray that he and Zexion were sharing and found that it was shaped more like an infinity symbol for its size caused it to fold inwards. Then he'd looked up at the bluenette and said, "And in that moment, I swear we were onion rings." He was glad it made Zexion laugh.

The rest of their time at the fair went smoothly and pleasantly for the most part. Marluxia and Zexion managed to get into a huge argument where they both brought up the sensitive subject of their parents; Zexion's mom and Marluxia's dad. Zexion managed to quell the tension when he exposed one of the carnival games as a fraud. It had been one of those strong arm games where the player is supposed to hit a little pillar thing with a hammer and it would test for strength. Marluxia had hit the thing as hard as he could, but he never managed to ring the bell. Thus, the bluenette had decided to hit it so hard, the cement beneath it cracked under the force much to the alarm of the booth worker. Of course, it still said he hadn't hit it hard enough. It even said he'd been weaker than Marluxia had been, which was not the case. Marluxia thanked him for that and for the stuffed, pink elephant the bookworm had won from the little display.

At the countdown, everyone gathered near the Ferris wheel where the fireworks would be launched behind because the weather ended up being clear enough, though Vexen revealed that he actually did that on purpose every year. Everyone got ready to kiss someone, as happened to be tradition at the fair to ring in the New Year. Roxas really wanted Axel to be his first kiss of the year, but he knew he couldn't with Sora and everyone with him. He didn't really have a choice anyway, because Roxas realized that Naminé had been clinging to him all night just for this moment. She kissed him in a surprise attack as the clock struck exactly midnight.

She pulled away and smiled shyly at him before he could even stop her. He just stared at her with a dumbfounded expression on his face. Honestly, he didn't even really know how he was supposed to feel about this. He didn't feel very good about it, that was for sure. He especially didn't feel good about it when Axel went to bury his hands in his pockets and his pants started to smoke and melt.

Naminé practically ran away giggling after that, sketchbook under one arm. She disappeared from Roxas' line of sight, so he turned his attention to the fireworks, but found that his eyes were more drawn to Zexion and Demyx unabashedly making out in front of him. He couldn't bring himself to look at Axel and see the disappointed look he was most definitely giving the blond.

The two groups split up after the fireworks show, and Marluxia informed Roxas that Naminé wanted to talk with him for a moment privately in his car. Despite the fact that the blond was anxious as to what she wanted, he decided he'd better be polite. Marluxia had seemed a bit reluctant to inform him that the blonde wanted to talk while Larxene seemed especially pleased, which worried Roxas a bit. Still, he went ahead and entered the pink car and sat in the backseat.

Naminé sat in the backseat on the other side. She had a smile on her face, which seemed to glow in the light from the neon rides and attractions at the fair. Roxas had never been an artist or really known anything about art or photography, but he honestly felt that if he could take pictures with his eyes, this would win every award ever just for how beautiful she looked.

"Hey, Roxas," she greeted with her shy smile still firmly in place.

"Hey, Nam. What's up?" he wondered.

Instead of responding, the blonde scooted into the middle seat next to Roxas and put a hand gently to his arm. "Roxas, you're such a nice, good person," she murmured. Her eyes dropped as her smile grew. She seemed to be seeing something else before her attention quickly returned to the boy.

"Uh, thanks, I guess," he replied. The look in her eyes scared him, as did the hand slowly making its way toward his face.

"You're always really nice to me," Naminé elaborated as her hand finally found Roxas' cheek. Her other hand went to land on his other cheek much more quickly than the first one. "And I really admire your integrity. You're not like a lot of people I know, and the fact that you treat me like I'm someone important means a lot to me…" she trailed off.

Suddenly, her mouth pressed desperately against his in a passionate kiss. She straddled him, pressing her thighs and breasts against him as one of her hands stayed on the boy's face while the other traveled down to his chest. Her breathing was hot and heavy and the sweet scent of her perfume filled Roxas' nose.

His brain had a tough time processing the situation, and he didn't really know how to respond because of it. Roxas just experienced being made out with without participating or doing anything. He could only really think of Axel's face.

"I'm thanking you, Roxas," she whispered in his ear before giving it a lick. "And I know you like me. So we should be together." Both her hands roamed his torso now, rubbing at him sensually. She planted one hand on his chest while the other began travelling south. "I can make you feel really good, Roxas, so you should say yes." Her hand reached its target and she lightly placed her hand over his crotch.

That catalyzed his brain and zoomed his thought process forward. He immediately removed her hand from his private area and pushed her away, successfully removing her mouth from his neck. Thoughts of Axel and how hurt he would be when he heard about this filled his mind. He was so angry and frustrated at both himself and Naminé. He knew he didn't really deserve to be angry at her since she knew nothing about Axel or that he was gay, but he was anyway. How could she just come along and try to screw everything up?

"Roxas? Why—?"

"Naminé, you're mistaken," he began in a low, serious, firm voice. "I don't like you. Not in that way. Even if I did, this is the absolute wrong way to go about starting a relationship." Adrenaline coursed through his veins along with his festering anger and he fought to remain verbally calm. "Relationships aren't all about the sexual side, and if you think you need to promise someone sex to get them to date you, then you're wrong and you've been taught wrongly. Relationships… they progress with friendship first and slowly build upwards as you get to know each other better. They don't start with sex. And I know we were friends before all this, but it's different. I don't even have romantic feelings for you and yet here you are jumping to conclusions and trying to get into my pants."

Naminé's face was one of sheer terror and guilt and sadness. "But, Roxas, how can you get people to like you if you don't sleep with them?"

Roxas sighed and tried to forget Axel's gorgeous green eyes distorted with pain. "Because you're a nice person. And if you find someone you want to be in a relationship with, then your personalities should fit together and attract each other. It's not easy to find people you want to be with, but it's worth it when you finally do. Naminé, I'm not the person for you. I'm really sorry."

Tears quickly welled in the blonde's eyes and she began to sniffle. She looked so fragile and confused that Roxas felt his anger die away instantly. She honestly wasn't used to being turned down. Obviously she also wasn't familiar with the idea of moving slowly in relationships. He opened his arms for her, and she immediately buried her face into his chest and began to sob.

"I'm so s-sorry," she blubbered. "I-I-I-I didn't realize…"

Roxas held her close and couldn't help be reminded of his ex-girlfriend, Xion. She was also fragile and crying like this when they broke up. It brought him back and he just had to be there for her. "It's okay, Nam," he promised with a smile. "Now buck up. I'm just one person! You'll have other opportunities, I swear."

She shook her head. "It's not that." She hiccupped as she began wiping her eyes hastily. "It's just, I feel so stupid and embarrassed… You were so different and way nicer than all the other guys that I've been with that I should've realized you wouldn't want to do that. I'm sorry… I'm an idiot…"

There wasn't much else Roxas could do aside from stroke her hair softly.

She calmed down about five minutes later and apologized again. "Could we please forget this ever happened?" she requested, searching Roxas' eyes for signs of protest.

"Of course. I think I should go now. The guys are probably getting impatient." With a final hug, he left Marluxia's car to find that the pinkette and Larxene had been standing guard over the vehicle. He ended up coming out of the end Marluxia himself guarded.

"Did you do it?" he wondered quietly.

Roxas shook his head.

"Good." He ruffled Roxas' hair. Suddenly he said, "You're my favorite, Roxas." He slapped his pointer finger to his mouth and shushed the blond and winked at him as he did so.

The boy smiled and nodded before returning to Demyx's car. He found everyone seated inside, and since Sora had taken a seat in the back, he'd take the passenger seat next to Axel.

"So what did Marluxia want?" Sora wondered as soon as Roxas sat down.

Roxas tried to avoid Axel's gaze and stared down at his lap once he had his seatbelt on. "I don't really wanna talk about it." He opted for glancing out the window and felt grateful that no one asked any further questions about it.

Almost immediately after they arrived at Riku's house, which Sora seemed extremely anxious about entering, Zexion and Demyx left them, holding hands and eyeing each other longingly. As they entered the estate further, it became apparent that Riku hadn't arrived yet, and neither had anyone else.

Sora took advantage of this opportunity and ordered for Roxas to help him go to the bathroom, which Axel seemed disgusted by, and led the blond into one of the bathrooms downstairs.

"So why did you need me?" the blond wondered. "At the fair, I mean."

"Well," Sora's shoulders slumped. "I totally screwed everything up with Riku at the fair and I just needed to be with you." He beckoned for his twin to take a seat on the bathtub across from the toilet at sink.

"What did you do?" he asked as he sat down in front of his brother.

Without warning, Sora's face turned bright red. "I kissed him."

"What?" Roxas demanded, alarmed. "What do you mean by 'kiss' exactly? Like, lip to lip? Or lip to cheek? Or like tongue to mouth?" He couldn't believe that Sora would make such a bold move. Not that Sora wasn't brave enough, it just surprised him that he'd forgotten that Riku might not like him back.

"Ugh!" he groaned. "Okay, so here's what happened: Kairi went to go get some more cotton candy, so me and Riku were sitting on a bench waiting for her, and we were talking and kind of flirting, or at least, I thought we were. Anyway, so I was just admiring Riku and his beauty because Riku is absolutely gorgeous. He just looked so hot! His eyes, oh gosh," Sora shivered, "and his hair!" He put a hand to his chest and stared off into the distance as he spaced out. If Roxas squinted, he would swear he saw pink hearts and sparkles in the air around Sora. "Oh gosh, his muscles!" He swooned briefly before he abruptly continued with his story. "Anyway, so I was just marveling at his perfection and he was leaning down all close to me as we talked because sometimes he likes to talk in my face and I just couldn't resist, so I just… kissed him. It was completely on the mouth and I just stayed there until I realized he wasn't responding, so I pulled back and looked at him and his face was just… blank. His face was completely blank and I just knew he was thinking of ways he could let me down easily. I could see him telling me I wasn't the one for him. I just, I couldn't deal with that, so I ran away. Well, rolled away, whatever. I just… I don't know how I'll be able to face him now."

Roxas felt bad for his poor brother. It wasn't like he had any idea that Riku actually returned his feelings, and he couldn't tell the brunet quite yet. Riku had better figure the cancer thing out quickly, because Sora was clearly ready for more than friendship. The blond put a hand on his brother's because he looked about ready to cry. "Sora, calm down," he began. "You probably just surprised him. Give Riku a little time to think about it. Did you forget that he just got out of his a relationship? Maybe he just wasn't looking to start another one so soon."

Sora didn't respond right away. He gazed down at his lap for a few moments before he lifted his head again, looking a bit more at ease. "I guess you're right. I probably did surprise him. He doesn't even know I'm gay, so I'm sure this was a big shock to him." He nodded as he thought it over more. "I guess I should just act like everything's normal until he figures out how to respond. Thanks, Roxy," he smiled, "It's like you always know what to say! See? This is why I need you! Love you, Rox. Come here so I can kiss you!"

"Are you sure? Maybe I just got out of a relationship, too…" the blond trailed off.

Sora immediately scowled at his twin. "No," he said simply.

Roxas cackled as he moved close enough for Sora to kiss his cheek. "Just yankin' your chain, bro."

Roxas began pushing his brother out of the bathroom and down the hall. He could hear Marluxia and Larxene yelling at each other in the living room they'd lazed around in on Thanksgiving, but he didn't get to see what it was about when suddenly Axel entered the hall from the room and stalked over towards the twins. He grabbed Roxas by the arm and began forcibly pulling him back towards the bathroom.

"Axel, what are you doing?" he wondered.

"We need to talk," the redhead said sternly. He fixed Roxas with an intense glare before focusing his attention forward again.

"Axel, let go of my brother!" Sora shouted at him.

Axel stopped for a second and Roxas' arm suddenly burned under the older boy's hand. He turned to scowl at the brunet. "How about no. Now you turn your little self around and go to the god damn living room or else I'll tell everyone you fucking _kissed Riku_."

Fear flashed on Sora's face for a second before angry defeat settled in and he did as he was told. "Jerk," he muttered over his shoulder.

The couple continued on into the bathroom where Axel closed the door and then promptly slammed Roxas up against it. He stared into his boyfriend's blue eyes with fiery rage. "Tell me what the fuck happened in Marluxia's car." His tone held no question, only angry demand.

"Axel…" Roxas trailed off before he stared down at his feet.

"Roxas, don't you fucking try that with me. Look me in the god damn eyes and tell me what the fuck happened. I know something happened in there. Marluxia and Larxene suddenly showed up and just started screaming at each other. I couldn't understand what the hell they were saying, but I know it's about whatever you went to his car for. Now you tell me what happen or else… Or else…" he struggled for a moment before he completed the sentence, "or else I won't fucking talk to you for a week."

Roxas looked up into Axel's eyes. '_Please don't make me do this, Rox. I fucking love you, but you let Naminé hang all over you and then she fucking kissed—_' and then everything became scribbles and angry words. He felt his stomach drop and he buried his face into Axel's searing chest, bearing the heat as best he could, and wrapped his arms around the redhead. "I'm really sorry about everything, Axel. I shouldn't have let Naminé cling to me. I know it hurt you and made you jealous and I know it was wrong of me to do that. She caught me off guard with the kiss, and I know you're really jealous about that, but there was nothing I could've done about that. But I still feel bad about it." The blond tried to ignore the burning sensation all over his front as a result of Axel's anger.

Axel sighed angrily, but kept breathing rather loudly as if regulating his respiration and trying to calm down. His body temperature dropped a bit towards normal and he wrapped his arms around the blond. "Tell me what happened," he demanded again, but more gently this time around.

"Naminé was waiting for me inside Marluxia's car. And please, don't be mad at me or her because it wasn't really her fault for thinking I liked her, and I didn't know she was gonna do what she did. Promise me you won't be mad. Please?" he requested, pulling back a bit to look into Axel's emerald eyes.

"Roxas…" He stared intently into his sky blues. "I can't promise that."

Roxas bit his lip and braced himself for the retribution. "She started making out with me and she tried touching me, you know, like sexually. But I stopped her before she could really—" Before he could continue, Axel had his hand gripping Roxas' face roughly and forced the blond to stare into his eyes.

"She touched you?" he growled.

Honestly, Roxas was a bit scared to respond. He knew Axel meant well and that he just had a really intense anger issue and that he would never put a hand to the blond in anger, but he couldn't help the fear making his knees tremble. "Well, she didn't get to touch me, you know, there. But she was rubbing her hands against my chest and then she pressed her boobs against me, and—"

Axel's mouth crashed against his roughly and he began making out with the blond passionately, hands everywhere on him in a matter of seconds.

Roxas responded by reciprocating the affection and felt blood rise to his face and couldn't help but also picture it traveling southwards, especially with the sudden heat he felt beginning to appear in the depths of his torso. He accidentally let out a small moan when Axel began servicing his neck and slowly massaging his package.

"Roxas, you're mine, okay?" Axel murmured between kisses to the blond's neck. "And that means nobody else can fucking touch you. Only I can do that." And to punctuate his point, he replaced his hand against Roxas' crotch with his own crotch. He rubbed their clothed, budding erections together and groaned against his shoulder.

"Axel, please not here? Please?" Roxas begged, unsure of how much longer he'd be able to hold out. Even though he didn't want to do anything here in a bathroom in Riku's house with all his friends walking about, he couldn't deny the thrill that came along with secretly fooling around with his boyfriend. It turned him on way more than he would've liked to admit.

"Mmm, it's too late for me to stop now." Axel's hand was once again at his crotch, opening first the blond's jeans and then his own. "You know you fucking like it." He grinned against the skin at the base of Roxas' neck as he removed both their dicks from their confines and began rubbing and stroking them together. "Fuck… Rox…" he moaned as he worked.

"Mm… Axel, I fucking hate you, I hope you know that." Roxas couldn't handle the excitement standing up, and his weak knees fell away as his pleasure sky-rocketed, leading him to falling forward. Luckily, Axel caught him and grinned at him for a brief moment before just continuing to rock the blond's body with pleasure. "Ah…! Axel!" Roxas moaned out as he succumbed to the pleasure his boyfriend's ministrations caused. He panted afterwards and felt his cheeks burn as Axel placed his mouth right next to Roxas' ear as he came, moaning directly into the cartilage.

"That was fucking amazing," Axel murmured through his hot breaths in the blond's ear.

"Mmm," Roxas agreed. "Now get off me before I get hard again. We've already spent enough time locked up in here." He began to retrieve some toilet paper to clean up the mess they'd made on each other and a little on the floor.

"Roxas, you really won't leave me for Naminé, will you? Or anyone?" Axel wondered.

Roxas turned his head to look at the redhead and found himself heartbroken at the worry and true concern on the boy's face. He approached the taller boy and got up onto his tippy toes to give him a brief, sweet kiss. "Of course not. Don't be silly," he promised and smiled before resuming his cleaning.

Axel chuckled and then began helping.

Upon opening the door after everything had been cleaned up, the couple found Riku standing in the doorway with his arms crossed on his chest and a smug grin on his face.

Immediately, Roxas and Axel's face turned red, especially as the silverette started chuckling.

"Axel!" Roxas hissed. "I _told you_!" He smacked Axel's chest and tried his best not to meet Riku's gaze.

"Told me what, exactly?" Axel hissed back as he gently placed a hand on the spot his blond companion had assaulted.

"You guys are just lucky I'm not anyone else," Riku interjected. "You'd have a lot of explaining to do otherwise. Next time, you should try to keep it down a little." The joy suddenly vanished from his face and his stance became strained. "Anyway, I just wanted to tell you guys that I'm getting checked out on the 6th. I want to go earlier, but I already set the appointment."

Axel and Roxas looked at each other a moment, blushes gone, and exchanged unsettling glances for a moment. "So what are you gonna do about Sora? He's really worried," Roxas pointed out.

Riku remained silent for a moment as he looked down at his feet and let out a sigh. "Well, in a perfect world, I'd already be jumping with him, but I know he's not exactly ready for that. I don't really know how to respond to that kiss right now, though. I don't want to leave him hanging, but at the same time, I don't want him to get too attached in case… you know…" His voice cracked a bit, sounding stressed. "I think I'll try to talk to him about it. Maybe I'll make up some excuse about how I'm not over my ex yet. But, my god," Riku's tone suddenly shifted and he stared off into space with a very love-struck and non-Riku-like expression, "the face he made right before he kissed me…" A smile split his face in two and his cheeks turned a light shade of pink.

"Well, looks like somebody's in love," Axel accused with a grin and a pat on the silverette's shoulder. Then he shoved past Riku and beckoned for Roxas to follow to the living room. Of course, Roxas followed his boyfriend's wishes, leaving Riku there grinning like an idiot as he thought of Sora.

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><p><strong>AN: **Wow, look at that. Chapter. Whoa. That was cool. Wow. Okay.

I hoped you enjoyed the chapter! Um, I like it, I guess. I don't know.

If you loved or hated the chapter you should totes let me know in a review or something and explain why because that is always good to know.

Have a terrific day/night! Love you!


	30. Tinkerbell Band-Aids

**A/N: **Hello to you! It's been a little while. How are you doing? Yeah, I can respect that.

_**Anyway, the first thing I want to say before we get started here is that I replaced the previous chapter a few days after I originally posted it. I had only uploaded the first part of that chapter because I wasn't sure if I wanted it to be that long, but then I decided that it should be, because otherwise the pacing for the story would seem a bit off, I think. It has the date I put the second part up, which is the 13th of December. So if you haven't read that part, you should go back and read it, because it is quite extensive and you will be lost without reading it.**_

I've decided that I like writing long chapters. They take a while to write, but I think I like it better because things are really kicking off and things are supposed to be moving more quickly. So yes, I apologize for the delay in actually posting, but I assure you that I'm not slacking or forgetting to write! I'm just writing more and that takes time. This chapter is around 20k words! Isn't that amazing? I wrote so much! It took me a month to write a chapter with 20k words. Usually it takes me two weeks or so to write a chapter that's around 5k words. I'm being more than twice as productive!

Anyway, I want to thank everyone who's reviewed my story and the previous chapter and you're just such a lovely person even if you don't leave reviews. I just want to snuggle all your faces and ugh.

Also, this monstrosity, as well as the previous one was beta'd by the lovely Rugiku~! So thank you for all the work you've put into editing this. I really appreciate it C:

Kingdom Hearts © Disney and Enix

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><p>Roxas couldn't help but smile whenever he thought about the rest of their New Year's Eve. He currently sat next to Sora in their living room working on an assignment he'd received to work on over break which was due the following day. He'd gotten most of it done, but he still had a few more pages of his history textbook to read and outline in the study guide he was making. His mind wandered though, and he simply couldn't focus. He grinned as memories played back in his mind.<p>

After Roxas, Axel, and Riku returned to the living room, they found that Marluxia and Larxene had taken to ignoring each other and that Naminé sat on one of the couches in the large living room complaining with Sora about their algebra teacher. Riku's brothers had burst into the house shortly thereafter and Demyx and Zexion finally returned from a place in Riku's house that Roxas had never been. Both looked tired and unkempt, but very pleased, which told everyone they'd just done something very fun together. The giant hickey marking Demyx's neck certainly didn't provide evidence to the contrary.

Riku's brothers stuck with their group and they just hung out for a few hours. Seifer and Fuu actually appeared while they were hanging out, and at the time Roxas just happened to be on the phone with Hayner wishing him a happy New Year, so he decided to toss his phone to the older blond so that he could talk to Hayner, too. The night got a little tense when Sora accused Seifer of having a crush on Hayner (which was completely true) but Seifer didn't like that, especially since everyone else seemed either shocked or entertained by the notion. Seifer had approached Sora quickly with his fist already prepared to meet the brunet's face, but Roxas managed to move quickly enough to push Seifer away from his brother and warn him not to hurt Sora.

After that, though, everything went smoothly.

Upon waking, Roxas found himself unable to move because Marluxia had demanded to sleep with him and Sora on the floor. At some point during the night, the pinkette had attached himself to Roxas like a leech. In the morning, he seemed to be having a very arousing dream, as he sensually rubbed at Roxas' chest and a not-so-little something poked into the blond's backside. Marluxia also happened to be the last to awaken, giving everyone else the freedom to laugh at him. Demyx thought it would be a great idea to record the sleeping pinkette as he felt Roxas up. Eventually, his hands began to stray too far down for Roxas to condone, so he delivered a swift kick to his crotch to stop him, which ended up rousing Marluxia from his sleep with a yowl of pain.

Axel ended up driving Zexion and the twins home after they'd had an extremely messy breakfast with everyone. Roxas had wanted to wish the redhead an affectionate goodbye as a way of further apologizing for what had happened with Naminé, but couldn't because of Sora and Zexion, leaving him unsatisfied. The redhead winked at him when he noticed the blond's distress, which put him more at ease.

Roxas snapped out of his reverie at that point and decided to continue working on his assignment some more so he wouldn't have to stay up late to finish it. In the end, though, he just decided to put it off. He had no hope of focusing on homework. Thus, he closed his books and put his materials away in his backpack and turned to watch TV with Sora, who, now that Roxas had stopped working, he realized had been extremely quiet today. The blond studied his twin for a moment and quickly noticed the big, fat smile on Sora's face. He also seemed to be in a daze, thinking.

The brunet's forehead wasn't very helpful in figuring out what had caused this expression on his face. So he spoke up wondering, "Hey, Sora, what's up?"

"Huh?" Sora immediately snapped out of his thoughts and looked over at his brother. "What?"

"What's up with the goofy look on your face?" he inquired, figuring it probably had something to do with Riku. The blond considered for a moment that Sora had gotten over Riku rejecting him, but then reasoned that it wouldn't be like Sora to get over Riku if the situation wasn't resolved, so he figured something must've happened. "Did something happen between you and Riku?"

Sora's face instantly turned bright red and his eyes widened at the question. "Huh? What? Between me and Riku? No way! Nothing happened. Absolutely nothing," insert fake laughter, "Why would you even think that? Heh, you're funny, Roxas." He then supplied a nervous smile.

Roxas sighed. "Dude, you're such an awful liar. Just tell me what happened. It's not like I'm gonna tell Mom and Dad. And they're not even home yet, so come on, spill!" he urged the brunet.

Without warning, Sora spilled like a cracked dam. "Okay, okay! Roxas, oh my god, it was so awesome! Okay, so, after everyone went to sleep, Riku came and woke me up and took me to his room so we could talk, right?"

"This isn't a creepy, violent story, is it?" Roxas interjected. "'Cause he could get in serious trouble for that."

"No! Shut up! Anyway, we were in his room, and he started talking to me about the kiss, and he said that he liked me, but he couldn't date me yet because it would be disrespectful to date someone so soon after getting out of a relationship and that it would make him look like a jerk, so yeah, he told me that we should wait a couple of weeks before we can date. And then he _kissed me_. Roxas, Riku _kissed. Me. _He put his mouth on mine willingly and expressed his feelings which I definitely reciprocate." Sora stopped to fan himself a bit.

"Oh gosh, you don't understand how good he tastes! Anyway, after he kissed me, I demanded that he kiss me some more to give me something to look forward to, so then he smiled that absolutely gorgeous smile of his and just started, like, making out with me. I don't know if you can exactly call it making out because he didn't use his tongue at all, but we kissed a lot and he ran his hands all over my back and sides and I got to finally wrap my arms around his neck. Oh my gosh, it was so nice." Sora went quiet for a moment, his face positively crimson, but then continued on before Roxas could respond. "Oh! But I totally got to sleep with him."

"Sora!" Roxas scolded.

"No, not like _that_! I mean, I got to cuddle with him in bed and sleep and it was so nice. We were just all curled up together and I got to fall asleep listening to his heartbeat. Oh my, it was so good, Roxas. So wonderful. I think I'm totally in love with Riku. I just… ugh! Roxy, you _need_ a boyfriend. You _need_ to understand what this is like!" Sora passionately informed his twin.

Roxas almost laughed at that, but kept it under wraps. "Well, looks like things are really working out for you two. That's really great." As much as he wanted to be happy for his brother and how things finally seemed to be going his way, he couldn't help but feel at least a small amount of disdain because he didn't have the luxury of being so open about his relationship with Axel without being bitched at about it. Still, he tried to sound enthused despite his inner disapproval so that Sora wouldn't feel bad about it.

* * *

><p>"You fucking piece of <em>shit<em>!" Seifer growled at Roxas before bringing down his fist on the blond's face.

Of all the ways Roxas expected his first day back at school to go, it definitely didn't include his current predicament. He found himself dangling helplessly in the air by his wrists, which Rai held very tightly. It felt very reminiscent of the first time Seifer had beaten the shit out of him, except this time, Seifer had told Fuu to get lost because the blond wanted to do this beating by himself.

Roxas saw stars when the bully's fist met his cheek and he felt extremely dizzy and nauseous, the world spinning around him. "I'm sorry… I'm really sorry…" Roxas managed to utter between ragged breaths. He couldn't be too sure if the warm liquid dribbling down his chin was blood, slobber, or tears, but he certainly didn't like the feeling.

Another hit rocked the blond, but this one landed on his stomach, making his breathing stop and he wheezed as he struggled to get air back into his lungs.

"Fuck you, lamer. I told you to stay the fuck away from my sister! And after I was so nice and saved your ass from that creep. You're gonna have to do a lot more than say sorry for me to leave you alone, you know."

"Hey… Naminé was the one who… came on to… _me_! I just… didn't want to… date her…" The strange rhythm his breathing had gotten into after having the wind knocked out of him made it difficult to speak, but Roxas felt that he had to defend himself somehow. "She… tried to fucking sleep with… me!"

This time, Seifer grabbed a handful of the blond's hair and yanked it so that the blond yelped and then met the older teen's violent eyes.

"No! Naminé doesn't even fucking know how to have sex. Tarnishing a guy's sister's image is about the worst possible thing you could do, lamer. Now you get to suffer the consequences." He said all this in a very strained voice, as if he really wanted to start shouting. He couldn't, though, because really, they were tucked away between the back of two buildings and school was still in session. They were all in the process of missing second period, actually.

"I… could tell Hayner… you know…" Roxas murmured as loud as he could manage without tears forming in his eyes.

This seemed to catch Seifer off guard and he widened his eyes for a moment. "What the fuck does that Chickenwuss have to do with me beating the absolute shit of you? You know, this is partially his fault! Your stupid brother fucking… Fuck! Shut up, okay? Just shut up." Seifer gave the blond another good punch to the stomach. "If you tell Chickenwuss what I did, I'll fuck your little face up beyond recognition. Got it?" He gave one last shot to Roxas' face for good measure. "Alright, Rai, let him go. We're done here."

Roxas hit the ground like a sack of potatoes. He dropped too quickly to catch himself, so he ended up landing on his side, hitting his head. The world spun as he attempted to watch Seifer and Rai walk away. Unfortunately, the blond wasn't in quite enough pain to feel like he would pass out, he was just in massive pain and very dizzy. He closed his eyes for a few minutes, and when he finally felt like the world had stopped swaying this way and that, he opened his eyes and took in everything that had just happened before making his way to his trembling feet.

First, he went to the bathroom to check out the damage, thankful that he didn't run into anyone on the way. He already confirmed that the liquid dripping from his face was, indeed, blood. Thankfully, none of his teeth seemed broken, but he worried about the condition of his nose. It hurt a lot and was bleeding, but decided he didn't really need to go to the nurse. His nose looked okay and had stopped bleeding, which was a good thing, too, because Roxas felt bad about getting his blood all over one of Axel's sweaters, which he was currently wearing. Aside from that, he appeared to have a split lip and one of his eyes had already turned purple and puffy from the beating.

After a few minutes of fixing himself up and trying to clean up all the blood off his clothes, he limped on to his second period class, which he was now roughly 25 minutes late for. When he opened the door, everyone turned to stare at him since he'd interrupted a lecture Mr. Price was giving on thermodynamics.

A collective gasp filled the air as all eyes followed Roxas to his desk. He sank down into his desk and glared down at the flat surface to avoid meeting anyone's gaze, especially Naminé's. She probably knew right away who'd done this to the blond.

"Class, open your books to page 230 and continue reading on," Roxas heard Mr. Price instruct the class.

The blond went to pick up his book from the floor, but before he could Naminé spoke up.

"Roxas?" she murmured. She extended a hand out and lifted Roxas' face with the help of a finger under his chin. For a moment, she quietly examined his wounds. Then she said, "Oh, Roxas, this is all my fault, isn't it? I'm so sorry. I-is there anything I can do? I mean I just…?" She trailed off.

Roxas pulled away from her hand and glared down at his desk again. "No, I think you've done quite enough, Naminé," he growled out. Anger burned at his veins now. He'd been too focused on making sure he was okay to really feel anything emotional about being completely thrashed, but now a tidal wave of emotions crashed down on him and he felt mostly anger at Naminé right now. There was no way for Seifer to have found out what'd happened aside from the blonde girl herself. Neither Larxene nor Marluxia, nor Axel would ever tell anyone about what had happened. Only Naminé would even think of blabbing.

A cool hand, too large to be Naminé's, landed on Roxas' shoulder.

Roxas looked up to find Mr. Price gazing at him sympathetically.

"Mr. Strife, may I have a word with you outside for a moment?" the teacher gently requested.

With a sigh, Roxas rose to his feet and followed the older man out the door and into the hallway. He found himself feeling a little intimidated and scared when Mr. Price closed the door behind them. At the back of his mind, he feared getting in trouble for having interrupted his lesson and arriving to class so late.

"Roxas, would you care to tell me what happened?" Mr. Price asked softly, as if to put the younger blond at ease.

Roxas gave another sigh and crossed his arms. He turned his gaze to the ground as he replied, "No. Not really."

A conflicted look crossed Mr. Price's face before he put his hands on the boy's shoulders. "Well, if it's of any merit, I understand what it means to be bullied. Anyway, I'm going to have to send you to the nurse and then to Mr. Diskin. Please retrieve your belongings and be on your way."

"But I don't want to go to the nurse," Roxas argued.

Mr. Price sighed. "Roxas, you have to go. If necessary, I'll have someone escort you there. Will that be necessary?"

Roxas rolled his eyes but agreed to head to the nurse without an escort. He and Mr. Price entered the room again. Mr. Price went over to the phone on his desk to call ahead to alert the nurse and Mr. Diskin that someone would be up for a visit soon. Meanwhile, Roxas retrieved his bag and approached Mr. Price's desk so that he could hand in a packet of work the class had been assigned over break.

Mr. Price started chuckling despite the fact that he was on the phone with the school principal, but took the packet anyway.

The nurse also asked Roxas what had happened, but the blond refused to talk. He absolutely hated being beaten up not just for the physical pain, but it also damaged his pride and made him clam up. He didn't like getting sympathy because it made him feel weak and needy and he didn't like to be seen that way ever, without exception. Luckily for him, the nurse didn't pry too much, and simply continued checking him out. She gave him some ice to help ease the swelling around his eye and assured him that his split lip wasn't bad enough to warrant stitches.

After his visit with the nurse, Roxas went to Mr. Diskin as he'd promised Mr. Price. Dealing with the nurse hadn't been that bad, but dealing with Mr. Diskin would be horrible, Roxas could tell. Mr. Diskin would force him to explain what had happened and then he'd likely suspend Seifer or expel him, depending on his mood. Roxas knew he couldn't exactly turn Seifer in. Seifer had to be around to take care of Naminé and Demyx. If he got Seifer in trouble and he got expelled, it could also mean trouble for his two friends, which he didn't want even if he was mad at Naminé.

The very first thing Mr. Diskin did when Roxas arrive was to call Cloud.

Roxas tried to ignore the phone call, but couldn't.

"Mr. Strife? Yes, I'm Xemnas Diskin, principal of Radiant Garden Union High School. I'm calling on behalf of your son, Roxas. It seems there's been some trouble, and I'll need you to come to the high school so we can discuss this matter face-to-face… Yes, very good." And then Mr. Diskin's glowing orange eyes were on Roxas. "Now, who else was involved in this little debacle?" '_I find it hard to believe that Roxas got into a fight. He seems much too level-headed for that. Unfortunately, he's probably just endured a beating._'

Roxas didn't respond to the question. He refused to turn Seifer in. Saying he wouldn't talk wouldn't get him anywhere, though, so he just sat there in silence.

"Mr. Strife, I am speaking to you," Mr. Diskin said, hardening his stare on the blond boy sitting in front of him.

The wood of the desk caught Roxas' attention, and he looked closer to take in the details of it. The wood was a mahogany color and faint traces of the knots in the wood could be seen. The middle of the desk on Roxas' side seemed to be rubbing off, if only the slightest amount on the edge. This led him to wonder about if Mr. Diskin had had sex in his office or if the rubbings on the desk had come from elsewhere. And if they were from sex, how many rounds of sex would it take to cause a wooden desk to begin to deteriorate, and did that hurt?

"Roxas!" A snap in his face brought Roxas back to reality. "Roxas Strife, I demand that you tell me what took place! I cannot properly punish the other party if you refuse to divulge any information about it!"

Roxas looked down at his lap and wished he could just continue on with his day as if nothing had happened. He hated having to talk about getting beaten up. And in most cases, Roxas had found that squealing only led to more trouble. In this case, it would definitely lead to more trouble.

"Why are you refusing to tell me what happened?" Mr. Diskin wondered. He seemed perplexed by this. "Bullying is always dealt with appropriately at our school. I always make sure of it; if fear of retribution is holding you back. Please tell me what happened. I promise you won't regret it."

"And what'll you do if I refuse to talk? Manipulate me into telling you so you can satisfy your justice boner?" the blond snapped at him suddenly. He didn't mean to be such a little bitch and normally he'd try to save that for either Axel or Sora, but anger boiled in his stomach like lava and he couldn't help it.

Surprisingly, instead of yelling, Mr. Diskin looked taken aback and perhaps even a little offended. "Roxas, I'm surprised you think I'd do that to you. I only use my gift when I deem it necessary. Since you're clearly the victim here, I won't go above your head to figure this out."

A small silence filled the room for a few moments until Mr. Diskin started talking again.

"I don't know how your previous school dealt with its students, but I assure you I try to treat everyone equally on this campus. Perhaps this is a difficult concept for you to understand, but I honestly care for each and every one of my students. Maybe this is silly but," Mr. Diskin's face turned a light shade of pink, "I view all you children as my own. It is doubtful I will ever have children of my own, so I suppose this is the closest I will ever get. I really enjoy seeing kids grow and learn."

Roxas hadn't really been prepared for a heartfelt confession from his principal, especially since Mr. Diskin seemed so intimidating and professional. It sort of touched the blond in a weird way and he felt his stomach churn a bit with emotion. He clasped his hands together in his lap and looked down at them sheepishly. "I'm sorry I snapped at you," he murmured.

They remained quiet for a while until a knock on the door sounded and Mr. Diskin invited the knocker in.

Mr. Thornton's head poked into the room. "Mr. Strife is here," he announced from behind the door.

Cloud entered the room with a curious and concerned look in his face, which quickly morphed into a worried expression when his eyes met Roxas'. "What happened?" he demanded, quickly taking the empty seat next to Roxas.

"I wish I knew. Roxas refuses to tell me," Mr. Diskin explained.

Cloud looked worriedly at his son again. He put a hand to Roxas' shoulder and warmly urged Roxas to explain what had happened.

Roxas glared down at his lap. "What do you want from me? I got beaten up. Big deal. People get beaten up all the time. Can't I please just go back to class?" he requested.

Cloud gave a sigh before turning on Mr. Diskin with one of his notoriously caustic glares on his face. "What kind of school are you running here? This is the second time this has happened in the last three months! Bullies just roam the halls and no action is taken against them? That's complete bullshit."

Roxas quickly interjected before Mr. Diskin had a chance to say anything. "Dad, stop it! It's not Mr. Diskin's fault, okay? I got beaten up and it's not his fault. It's my fault for being such a pussy. Can we please be done here?"

"Roxas, is this really the second time you've been assaulted on school grounds?" Mr. Diskin wondered also sounding concerned. "Is the perpetrator the same as last time?"

"Look, I can't tell you who did it. I just can't. Please can we just leave it alone? Please?" Roxas was ready to get on his knees and beg for his day to continue on normally. Unfortunately for him, Mr. Diskin and Cloud refused to relent on finding out who had laid their hands on Roxas.

They asked why he couldn't turn in his attacker and if they were friends and if there was more than one and other similar questions. Roxas began to fight with himself over whether or not he should just turn Seifer in. When he began seriously considering spilling, though, he thought of all the people that would be mad at him. Plus, Fuu would still be around and probably out for his blood if he turned in either Rai or Seifer. He begrudgingly held his position and revealed nothing about the identity of his bully.

It took about an hour and a half for Mr. Diskin and Cloud to finally concede. Mr. Diskin had to attend to some other business and Cloud had to go back to work. They finally just agreed to let Roxas go back to class. Cloud did insist on bringing Roxas a clean sweater since the one he had on was covered in blood. Roxas agreed to that at least, so Mr. Diskin allowed him to sit in the main office until his father returned with the clothing.

By the time Cloud dropped off the new sweater, which Roxas noticed with a grin was another one of Axel's, fourth period was about to end. The bell for lunch rang before Roxas could even make it to his fourth period English class. He took a trip to his locker, hoping to avoid Sora if he got there fast enough. He didn't, of course, and it took some very strong language to get the brunet off his back about what'd happened. He finally made his way over to the vending machines where he knew his friends would be sitting and wondering where he'd been at nutrition.

The moment Roxas locked eyes with Axel across the room from the vending machines, it seemed like everyone in the group turned to look at him at the exact same moment. Everyone, save for Larxene, seemed worried about him. Nobody spoke as he took a seat next to Axel. A loud ringing in his ears made him want to curl up with the redhead and sleep. Part of him wished he'd taken Mr. Diskin and his father up on their offer to let him go home for the day.

"I've been in the office for the past two and a half fucking hours," he informed them all. He closed his eyes in the hopes that the ringing in his ears would go away. He opened his eyes again when he realized it wasn't going to work. "Also, I got beaten up. How are you guys today?"

Axel, Marluxia, and Zexion looked about ready to murder someone while Naminé looked extremely guilty, Demyx still had a concerned look on his face, and Larxene didn't seem to care, texting away on her phone.

"Who did it? I'll fucking kill them," Axel promised, trembling with rage.

Marluxia seemed to connect the dots when he glanced over at Naminé for a moment and a deep scowl formed on his face. "I can give you a hint. He's blond, irritating, and Naminé's keeper."

"Whoa, whoa, you think _Seifer_ did this?" Demyx asked incredulously. He looked curiously at the injured blond. "Did Seifer do it?"

Roxas just nodded. "I didn't tell Mr. Diskin, though, so don't worry. Look, I don't really want to talk about it. Right now I'm just really tired and I'm cold, and I'm gonna take a nap." He grabbed Axel's arm, brought it around himself like a blanket, and leaned into the older teen, resting his head on Axel's chest. "Heat up, asshole, I'm freezing. Makeshift blanket," he ordered the redhead. To everyone else, he said, "Wake me up when lunch is over. Good night." Before closing his eyes for his nap, Roxas realized his friends weren't going to let this go and would probably hound him for the story later. He couldn't find it in himself to care at this point, though. Right now, he just enjoyed Axel's wonderful body heat and the fact that he had an excuse to cuddle with him in front of his friends without it seeming strange. As he fell asleep, Roxas could hear the murmurs of his friends talking, but it was all too garbled to make any sense.

After school that day, the group, save for Larxene, decided to get coffee together. They entered a little café, which Zexion informed Roxas was tradition for them to frequent during the colder months of the year. Together, they took up three tables, but that didn't seem to matter seeing as there were no other customers.

Once they'd all gotten their drinks and/or snacks, Roxas told them all exactly what had happened with Seifer. He left the fact that Naminé was the cause out, not wanting to talk about what had happened the day prior. He blamed the beating on Sora and the fact that he'd protected his brother after he'd accused Seifer of having a crush on Hayner.

They all agreed to make Seifer's life hell as much as possible for a few days to get back at him for what he'd done, which filled Roxas with comfort. It was nice that so many people had his back in this situation. Axel promised to blow Seifer's phone up with texts, Marluxia vowed to poke and irritate him in any classes they had together, Demyx and Naminé swore to ignore him for a few days, and Zexion didn't really say what he was planning, but assured everyone that he was definitely on board.

"You guys don't have to do all that for me," Roxas assured them.

"Roxas, how could we not? You're family now!" Marluxia argued.

They horsed around there for a while until Demyx and Naminé had to go, at which point, the entire group disbanded. Marluxia agreed to drive Zexion home, which was sure to be an interesting ride, and Roxas planned to go to Axel's house to hang out some more, against the wishes of his father who'd been worriedly texting him to come home.

All the way to the redhead's apartment, Roxas couldn't ignore the worried glances he kept receiving from his boyfriend. He appreciated the concern and all, and he just looked so cute that Roxas wanted to ravage him and perhaps hump him into the nearest available space. Unfortunately, his head was still ringing and his eye hurt more now, if that was possible (especially whenever he touched it or even brushed a hand over it while adjusting his hair).

"When we get to my house, I want you to go lay down on my bed, okay? I don't want you straining yourself or anything, alright?" Axel said in that motherly tone of his that Roxas didn't dislike as much as he wanted to.

"Awww, so no sex, then?" he wondered with a shit-eating grin on his face.

Axel didn't seem amused, his facial features hardened a bit in irritation. "No, I'm afraid not. Instead of having sex, I'm gonna fix you up. You look about ready to fall to pieces; you definitely wouldn't be able to handle a pounding to the ass."

"Axel, you're no fun. Are you gonna treat me like glass again? Because I don't think I can handle that again. I need your good, ol' Axel-lovin'," Roxas informed him.

This time, Axel offered a small, warm smile. He removed one of his hands from the steering wheel and placed it gently on Roxas' thigh, gripping firmly but not uncomfortably.

"Nah, I won't do that again, I promise. I think that was worse than this because you had that whole neck brace thing going on. And you could've died in the crash if things had gone just a little differently. In this case, at least it's more straightforward and I can easily treat your wounds. And Seifer's smart enough to know when to stop beating someone before they have to go to the hospital."

"Well, it's good to know that he's not just absolutely destroying people on a daily basis, I guess," the blond murmured.

Axel chuckled. "Mhmm. This whole thing wasn't about Sora or Hayner, was it? It was because of what happened with Naminé, isn't it?"

"Yeah," Roxas admitted with a sigh. "He actually stopped beating me up when I threatened to tell Hayner about what he was doing. But I guess what I don't understand is how Seifer even found out. Marluxia and Larxene wouldn't talk about something like that. Marluxia likes me too much to do that and Larxene doesn't care enough to do it. Naminé told me she just wanted to forget that it had ever happened, and I obviously have no problem keeping secrets. I mean, I only told you because you were really mad at me. I wouldn't have told you otherwise because Naminé asked me not to."

"Yeah, I see what you're saying. Naminé is the only person who would've said anything about it. And why would she tell Seifer what had happened? She hides her sex life from him like nobody's business," Axel supplied.

"Exactly! But when Seifer was telling me why he was beating me up, it was twisted the other way around. He said I was trying to ruin her image or something. I think he had to have heard it from Naminé. I just… I don't know," Roxas trailed off. He didn't like thinking that Naminé had thrown him under the bus like that. Even if she was upset that he turned down her offer, she wouldn't stoop so low as to get Seifer to beat him up, would she? Roxas hoped with every fiber of his being that wasn't the case. He'd thought that he and Naminé were friends.

Axel squeezed Roxas' thigh comfortingly. "Aw, Rox, don't make that face! I'm sure there's something we're missing. Naminé wouldn't do that to you without something being off, alright? She's not spiteful like that."

"If you say so," he muttered in reply.

When they arrived at Axel's house, Roxas did as he was told and went to lie in the redhead's bed. Meanwhile, Axel went to the kitchen and explained he was going to make soup for him. Of course, Roxas practically melted on the spot at the sugary sweetness of his boyfriend, but his back was really starting to hurt and Axel's bed did sound nice. Any place covered in Axel's scent sounded nice.

Roxas realized he'd fallen asleep in Axel's bed when the redhead woke him up about twenty minutes later. He carried a bed tray with him, containing a bowl of soup, a box of Tinkerbell-themed bandaids, and an ice pack.

Axel then set to work applying the bandaids to Roxas' split lip and nose because he said it looked cute. Then he took the ice pack and pressed it against his bruised eye and held it there so that Roxas could eat the soup.

The whole situation thrilled Roxas to bits and he really, really wanted to either fuck Axel doggy style or confess his love for the redhead. He did neither, leaving his stomach a churning tonic of emotion. Nobody had ever taken care of him like this, and it was greatly appreciated, for sure. He expressed a little of his gratitude by servicing Axel's neck as they cuddled in his bed once he'd finished his soup. The swelling around his eye had gone down and now didn't hurt as much and his spirits had been greatly lifted. He almost thought it couldn't get any better, but it did.

Reno eventually came home from work and learned of what had happened. He seemed to feel pretty bad about it and very sympathetic towards Roxas, so he offered to give the blond a bath, which had alarmed Roxas at first, but Axel assured him it would be fine. He lent the blond a pair of his swimming trunks and then was promptly given a nice, warm bath by Reno who, as it turned out, had been a massage therapist for a few years. Thus, he received a very nice, free massage from the older redhead. Roxas practically fell asleep in the bathtub, but Reno refused to let him, and had to keep snapping his fingers to keep him conscious.

It was about 8 o'clock by the time Roxas was all dressed and Cloud and Sora had sent him a good number of worried texts, so Axel decided to drive him home. Roxas fell asleep on the way, so Axel had to wake him up again. The day had just completely worn the blond out, and that massage and bath combo made him drowsier than he ever remembered being in his life. His pains had been greatly reduced, as well, so he was pretty ready to hit the hay.

Cloud and Sora, who'd been watching TV on the couch with Tifa, asked him about where he'd been when Roxas entered the house, but Roxas didn't really feel like stopping to chat, so he just said, "Axel's house. Reno has magic fingers. I'm going to bed," and punctuated it with a yawn.

* * *

><p>The first week back at school after that seemed to drag on, if only because Roxas' body needed time to get used to not sleeping till midnight, save for the first night of amazing rest he'd gotten. Even though it went by slowly it wasn't boring at all. The Organization couldn't really meet together during the week because of everyone's conflicting schedules. Almost everyone in the Organization was either a teacher or a student at RGUHS, and school began right after holidays. This meant assignments were due, clubs and sports started back up, part-time jobs finally resumed after the holidays, and Xemnas and Saïx had to go about doing whatever school faculty had to do and Vexen had to resume correcting homework and tests and making lesson plans.<p>

Despite this inability to meet, they still interacted a little bit with each other. All the new members were added to a private Facebook group for the Organization. Mostly everyone became friends with everyone else, too, save for Xemnas, Saïx, and Vexen because that was technically illegal being that they were in teacher-student relationships. The privacy of the group protected them, though. Being that they now had a means of contacting each other, they swapped other contact information and found themselves socializing with the other Organization members; if only a little bit.

Demyx by far had the most newly-spawned interaction with the Organization members, being that Xigbar refused to quit pestering him with pick-up lines and invitations to dates. Other than that, he also actually posted in the Organization's Facebook group and chatted with the others. The other new members felt too timid to say much. The new members all planned on going to the Organization's headquarters on the coming Saturday because Xemnas wanted them to hang out at the headquarters so they could get used to being there.

Understandably, Zexion was the least excited about this endeavor at that point. He didn't even seem nearly as excited to study everyone's abilities as he used to be. Roxas thought it was funny in a way because before finding out Lexaeus was part of the Organization, he was easily the most excited. He did feel bad as well, though. Everyone tried to convince Zexion to just ignore him and not let his presence become a bother. Zexion refused to listen, however, and he remained silent about anything related to the Organization. He refused to even join the Facebook group until Mr. Price urged him to during school one day.

Even though it kind of amused Roxas that Zexion's attitude toward the situation had changed so drastically, he worried about his best friend. Not only did Zexion not talk about the Organization or anything with any relation to it, he also became much quieter in general. He didn't really eat or smile that much, either. Roxas had tried to get Zexion to talk with him, but whenever they hung out, the bluenette just brought a book and always pulled it out instead of actually socializing with the blond. Demyx didn't really seem to be making much progress at getting Zexion back to normal, either. Apparently, he also wasn't accepting anything more intimate than a kiss anymore despite the fact that they'd had sex for the first time in their relationship on the Monday back at school, according to Demyx's gloating.

Since they were due at the headquarters at noon, Roxas decided he would talk to Zexion beforehand to try to break his sullen friend out of this funk. He didn't really think he had much of a chance to do anything significant, but it was definitely worth a try. He did have to wake up earlier than he'd have liked to, but he decided that Zexion was worth it. Thus, he awoke at 9AM to take a quick shower and bundle up since it started snowing a shit ton starting on Tuesday afternoon, leaving a thick blanket of snow on every surface up to Roxas' knees. He didn't have any snow-appropriate attire, so he just wore multiple sweaters and two pairs of boxers to help keep himself warm.

Surprisingly, when the blond went over to Zexion's house, he found the door already unlocked despite the fact that there were no cars in the driveway, meaning that Mr. Corazza had already left for work. Roxas shrugged, but entered the household and took off his shoes in lieu of meticulously wiping them on the rug in front of the door.

Roxas lightly knocked on Zexion's closed bedroom door before entering in case the bluenette was already awake, but received no reply. He shrugged and opened the door quietly to find his best friend fast asleep, curled up into a tight ball under his covers facing the door. He felt a little guilty about waking him up, so he sat beside Zexion, instead.

Immediately, Zexion began to stir. "Demyx…?" he groaned in his sleep. He extended his arms out and wrapped them around Roxas. "You're not Demyx," he concluded then, and opened his eyes. He glanced up at Roxas' face, icy blues glassy and clouded with grogginess.

Even though he seemed awake, Roxas elected to remain quiet since Zexion didn't seem to be operating on all cylinders.

"Oh, it's just Roxas," he mumbled tiredly. "Come cuddle with me. I'm tired." He removed his arms from Roxas before yawning and lifting the blankets as a welcome to the bed.

Without a moment's hesitation, the blond accepted the invitation and rolled into bed with his friend. He thought Zexion was being downright adorable and the smile on his face hurt his cheeks. Who knew Zexion was so cute when he was half-asleep? Their arms encircled each other and they brought their foreheads together in a way similar to how the blond liked to snuggle with Sora.

"Zexion, you're seriously the cutest little thing," Roxas murmured with a chuckle.

Zexion furrowed his visible brow and groaned. "Fuck you. This isn't cute, is it?" He pushed his hair back and tucked the longer side that he always, without fail, had covering his eye behind his ear. A large, white scar ran from his forehead, over his eyelid, and continued a little bit on his cheek. The eye itself seemed a few shades lighter than its twin, but otherwise seemed fine.

Roxas couldn't believe Zexion had so easily just showed him what he'd been so desperately hiding. He'd only glimpsed the scar once when he'd first found out about Zexion's powers, but he'd just woken up from being passed out and didn't remember it clearly. Yet there it was, clearly and openly displayed. Part of him felt guilty. "Zexion, are you awake all the way?" he asked solemnly. If the bookworm wasn't all the way awake, he'd feel guilty for seeing something so private.

"Of course. See how ugly it is? See why I keep it covered?" The bluenette frowned. '_Fuck, I'm so pathetic. Why is Roxas even friends with me in the first place?_'

In response, Roxas sighed and rolled his eyes. "Oh, shut up. Scars are fucking hot." He gently placed his thumb on the scar above Zexion's eyebrow.

At first, the bluenette flinched away, but relaxed after a second and allowed Roxas to feel it. "They're not. Especially not this one. I told you I sent my mother to an insane asylum, and this is the proof. I scared her with my ability and she dropped a knife and this happened. It never went away, and now serves as a reminder of what I made her go through."

Roxas frowned and retracted his arm once he'd finished feeling up the scar. "I'm sorry. That really sucks. It still looks pretty wicked, at least, if that's any consolation." Before an awkward silence took root, which Roxas predicted would happen, he asked, "So how was sex with Demyx?" Since Zexion had been so quiet recently, Roxas hadn't really gotten to talk to him about it.

Immediately, Zexion's face split with a smile. "It was wonderful," he replied, stars in his eyes. "Demyx is truly beautiful inside, out, and writhing beneath me. And ugh," Zexion pulled away from Roxas to flop onto his back, arm spread out to the side, "his voice." His eyelashes fluttered closed and he smiled wider. "I love Demyx with my heart, liver, lungs, kidneys… everything, really. My body loves him. I love him. He does strange things to my heart rate and his smile is gorgeous. I've never met anyone quite as lovely or charming as Demyx. To be able to mark up his body and make him scream like a vixen looking for a mate is truly a gift. When he's moaning, it's almost like he's singing and my name has never sounded as good as it does on his lips when he's squealing and whimpering." Zexion turned a light shade of pink before returning to his cuddling position with Roxas. "In short, it was spectacular."

"It definitely sounds like it. I kind of wish I would just give away my virginity to know what it feels like, because it sounds fucking incredible," the blond responded.

"You know, Roxas, I'm curious. Why _are _you a virgin? What is so important to you about waiting?" the blond's companion wondered.

Roxas shrugged. "Well, I don't want to just give it away to someone I don't think is very special. Plus, I've only dated girls up until now, and I didn't really want to lose my virginity to someone I wasn't even really attracted to." Roxas did wonder, though, why he felt so strongly about saving himself. He could be having sex with Axel if he wanted to, but they hadn't gotten further than hand jobs and he'd never even seen the redhead completely naked.

Cloud had told him to hold onto his virginity for someone he was sure he wouldn't mind looking back on and saying he'd had sex with that person. His first time probably wouldn't be very good anyway, his father had explained, so it was better to have it with someone he really cared about so that it wasn't all bad.

"But other than that, I guess I was just raised to think that my first time was special. And my dad told me the first time is always the worst, so it's better to wait for someone that I wouldn't mind sharing such a bad experience with," he explained. "What about you? When did you lose your virginity?"

Zexion's expression darkened instantly and he looked down and sighed. His gaze returned to Roxas' eyes after a brief moment of thought. "I lost my virginity some time in May. I lost it to Lexaeus, obviously, after seven months of dating. And in my case, your father was correct. My first time was definitely the worst experience I've had with sex."

"See? You waited a pretty long time, too! What took you so long?"

"I hated my body," Zexion answered, "and I was uncomfortable showing it to anyone at all. I still do hate my body, I suppose, but I trust Demyx way more than I trusted Lexaeus. And I've known Demyx since I was five years old, so I am very comfortable with him."

"You shouldn't hate your body, Zexion. It's not gonna do you any good," Roxas couldn't help but run a hand down the bluenette's side.

"Mm, I know it won't," was all the bookworm said in reply.

"I'm kind of surprised that you're talking to me so much right now. All this week it's been like talking to a wall with you. Honestly, it's been a little boring without your sarcastic quips. I missed my bestie." Roxas pouted and traced an invisible tear down his face.

Zexion grinned and gave a light chuckle. "Well, I haven't gone anywhere. I suppose I just missed talking to you as well. Before you, I didn't have a friend as close to me as you are, aside from Demyx, but he fits into a different category entirely. You could leave me whenever you wanted and find a new best friend, but you choose to stick around and that's made me comfortable being with you."

A silence ensued, but neither felt uncomfortable with it. Eventually, Zexion started talking again. "I wish Lexaeus didn't have this much power over my emotions. I wish he didn't have an ability. I wish he wasn't part of the Organization. I wish I didn't know that he cheated on me." The bluenette paused to close his eyes a moment and sigh. "It's just that I can still feel his lips pressed up against my neck and ears and feel his hands on my skin. It hurts to know that someone whom I'd revealed a lot of myself to would simply spring at something better. I still love him, but I wish I didn't. That just makes everything much harder."

Roxas didn't know how to respond to that, so he didn't. Zexion kept talking when he realized the blond had nothing to say to that.

"I know I'll have to get used to him being around. I know it. But it's so hard. I'm so conflicted. On one hand I want to run up and throw my arms around him and kiss him again and forgive him for cheating on me, but on the other hand, it hurts to know that he gave me up so easily and without even confronting me until months after the fact. Especially since I've been dating Demyx and he treats me like a king. And, of course, Demyx is another reason why I can't just go kiss and make up with Lexaeus. I love both Demyx and Lexaeus. Roxas, does that make me a whore? Or unfaithful?" He gazed worriedly into Roxas' eyes. Everything about Zexion's demeanor was very sensitive and fragile.

"Not at all, Zexy. It's not like you can just turn such strong feelings off all the sudden just because they're inconvenient. And I can't tell you what to do or anything, but I honestly think Demyx is a better guy for you, even though I don't know Lexaeus very well. If someone mistreats you once, why should you believe they won't do it again? And you and Demyx are closer in age and size. Plus, I think Demyx puts you in situations you wouldn't normally like to be in, and I think that's good for you. And your relationship is founded on a solid friendship that goes back many years and, like you said, he treats you like a king."

"Shut the fuck up, Roxas," Zexion grumbled. "It's not like I don't already know that. Can't you just fucking cuddle with me? I'm fucking tired and today is gonna suck balls."

Roxas grinned at his friend and chuckled. "Fine, asshole. But you should definitely talk to Demyx at least. He's your boyfriend after all, and he loves you lots and is really worried."

The bookworm closed his eyes but nodded. "Yeah, I guess it was pretty unfair of me to sleep with him once and then stop talking to him much. It's not like this is his fault. I just hate talking about things that matter to me, you know? And Jesus fuck, I'd hate to see Demyx start crying because I'm still in love with Lexaeus."

"Good boy. Now, I'm also pretty fucking tired, so let us take a nap, shall we?"

And with that they both drifted off to sleep in each other's arms.

* * *

><p>Roxas awoke in a sudden jolt as he hit the hardwood floor of Zexion's room. The sound of cackling and two other voices registered in the blond's mind before his vision cleared and he realized he was lying face down on the floor with Axel laughing evilly while Demyx and Zexion talked. Quickly, he concluded that Axel had yanked him off the bed.<p>

The blond groaned and rolled onto his back so he could glare up at Axel, who stared down at him mischievously. He noticed out of his peripheral vision that Demyx had probably gently shaken Zexion awake, for he was sitting on the bluenette's bed next to him and talking in hushed tones.

"Why the fuck can't you wake me up like Demyx wakes up Zexion? You're such a fucking asshole," he growled and continued to lie there. He did turn on his side so that he could face the door instead of looking up at Axel's smug face.

Axel's face suddenly appeared in front of Roxas, having dropped to the floor to lie next to the blond so that they could talk face to face. "Aww, Roxy, don't be all pouty like that. Here, I'll wake you up with a kiss this time around," he said before he suddenly went in to kiss the blond.

Roxas wished they were alone so he could kiss the redhead, but seeing as they weren't, the blond blocked his boyfriend's face with his hand. "Fucking creep." He got to his feet begrudgingly and stretched his arms up with a mighty yawn. "Zexion, why is your bed so much more comfortable than-" the blond abruptly stopped when he saw that his best friend and Demyx were in a heated kissing match. He sighed and helped Axel up from the floor. "Axel, let's go wait in the car before the two lovebirds to start sticking things in places."

"What time is it?" Zexion wondered, face muffled by Demyx as he continued to try to kiss the bluenette even as he spoke.

"It's like 11:40," Axel responded before pulling out his phone to confirm it. "Yup."

"That's enough time," the bluenette replied with a lecherous grin directed at his boyfriend, who mirrored the expression. Without warning, their kissing escalated tenfold in passion and Demyx practically tore off his sweater and threw it across the room.

A hand suddenly covered Roxas' eyes and he was hastily led out of the room by Axel. He closed the door behind them before releasing Roxas. "Sorry you had to see that, kid." He smiled down at his boyfriend.

Roxas shot Axel a smirk. "Race you to the car," he said before he began bolting down the stairs and out of the house.

Of course, Axel was hot on his heels and tried to squirm past the blond, but Roxas blocked his path and closed the front door on the redhead, hearing a satisfying thump and subsequent curse behind him. The blond quickly opened the back door of the car and climbed inside to lay back with his legs outstretched on the seat and watched Axel scramble through slush across the drive way and into the vehicle as well. The redhead climbed on top of Roxas after closing the car door and without any hesitation attached his lips to the smaller boy's.

"Do you think we can give each other hand jobs before they finish up?" Axel wondered after pulling away for a few moments. "Or is it too risky?"

The blond propped himself up on his elbows so that he wasn't awkwardly laid against the car door. "Hmm, well, the only thing is the clean-up. I think we have enough time, but we'd need something to clean up afterwards."

The redhead nodded. "Yeah. And there's no trash in here, so even if we had something to clean up with, Demyx would probably find it. So, just making out, then?" he wondered.

Roxas smiled and pulled the redhead down by the collar of his shirt, resuming their make-out session.

After about five minutes or so, the couple decided to stop, in case Zexion and Demyx finished up and came across them sucking face in the back of Demyx's car.

"So, Zexion seems in a better mood than he's been in lately," Axel commented as they adjusted into normal sitting positions, moving Demyx's guitar from the floor of the vehicle to the front passenger seat.

"I talked to him and he said he'd missed me. Isn't that the cutest thing? And he told me about why he's been so down lately and he told about losing his virginity and stuff like that," Roxas explained.

Axel let out a wordless, guttural growl. "Roxy, no," he chided the blond. '_You're supposed to think __**I'm**__ cute, Roxas!_'

"Oh, alright, you're cute, too. You're the cutest boyfriend I have!"

This didn't seem to appease the older boy. "Fuck you," he said with a pout. His demeanor suddenly changed and the smirk Axel got when he knew he was being naughty made an appearance. "Oh, did listening to Zexion talk about losing his virginity inspire you at all? Did you get any crazy ideas? Like maybe, I don't know, sitting on my dick?"

"Funny thing, actually. Zexion said he didn't lose his virginity until after seven months of being in a relationship. He really did inspire me! I now want to wait even longer than originally because now I understand that a good relationship takes time to build and that's more important than putting our pee-pee parts inside each other's dirt chutes," Roxas replied with a grin.

Axel wailed in mock-discontent. "Why is it such a cruel world? Why?" he demanded the ceiling of the car, fists clenched passionately.

Though he knew Axel was joking, part of Roxas felt guilty; like he was holding Axel back from something he really wanted to do. "Axel, you don't think we're going too slowly, do you? Do you honestly want to do more than just stroke each other off now and again?" the blond wondered, staring down at his lap shyly. He couldn't believe how hot his face felt after just asking a simple question. He and his friends joked about sex all the time! He'd had oral sex with both his ex-girlfriend and Zexion, and he and Axel fooled around almost every other day.

Axel's large, warm hand did wonders to calm Roxas' frazzled nerves as it came to rest on his shoulder. He'd worried that maybe the redhead wanted something he wasn't ready to provide, but the hand on his shoulder put him at ease enough to look Axel in the eyes to hear the answer.

"Nah, Rox, no way. I was totally joking just now, you know. We're doing perfectly fine, alright?" Axel reassured him. "I actually really like going slow with you. With the other people I've dated, I felt a lot of pressure to sleep with them quickly because I felt like that was all that could keep them around. With you, though, as ca-_razy_ as it seems," Axel rolled his eyes and made a funny face, "it feels like you actually like me as a person and want me around. So I'm fine with going at whatever pace you want. I definitely don't want you to feel like we have to be doing more on my account."

Roxas smiled. "Good. I'm glad." He took a moment to blush and take in their conversation before yanking Axel's face down to his with the use of his hair and a hand under his chin and placed a nice kiss on his lips. "Thanks, Ax, you're really fucking awesome," he murmured as he gazed into his boyfriend's eyes, their foreheads resting together.

Axel blushed himself and couldn't seem to find the words to respond. His forehead was completely blank, showing how fried the redhead's brain was.

The rest of their wait was in comfortable silence, both blushing and holding each other's hand.

* * *

><p>When the four boys arrived at the Organization headquarters, they found that Marluxia, Naminé, and Larxene had already arrived. They were currently sitting at the couch in the living room where they'd met the other members for the first time. Marluxia had a book in his hands, reading intently, Larxene had her phone out, texting, and Naminé had brought along her sketchbook and was focused on the page before her.<p>

They seemed utterly unaffected by the arrival of the four boys, which Roxas knew was because of what'd happened on New Year's Eve. Things in the group had been off, for lack of a better word, for more reasons than just Zexion's silence. Larxene and Marluxia had ceased speaking to each other, except to insult the other or to communicate small, menial things. Naminé had clammed up completely, not really talking to anyone aside from Demyx and Axel. Demyx didn't quite understand the situation, and it was then that Roxas realized the only two people out of the loop on what had happened were Zexion and Demyx, which made Roxas feel a little guilty, if not just because Zexion trusted him a great deal and put a lot of merit in everything he said.

Roxas decided to sit next to Marluxia on the couch since he and the pinkette had grown exponentially closer over the week. It was much safer to sit next to him than Naminé or Larxene, and sitting next to Axel was far too tempting. Plus, it seemed Axel and Zexion were going to play a game of chess after spotting a chess table set up by the piano since apparently they had a vendetta against each other in chess that had been going on for a couple of years. Demyx pulled out his guitar and began strumming away.

Marluxia put his book down so that he could talk to Roxas whilst Naminé occasionally sent longing and guilty stares in Roxas' direction, which made him very uncomfortable.

This went on for about twenty minutes until Xaldin appeared in the doorway to the living room behind the white couch wearing a black wife-beater and plain blue pajama bottoms. "Oh, so you're the fucking prick playing music," he growled, irritated eyes locked on Demyx.

"Oh, sorry, I didn't mean to wake you!" the sandy blond apologized with a chuckle.

Xaldin didn't respond to him. He turned his attention to the rest of the group. "Listen up, kiddies," he called out. "Xemnas asked me to give you all a tour of the house since you'll probably end up hanging out here more than you think and it'd be helpful if you didn't ask me where the fucking bathroom is every five goddamn minutes."

Even though he was probably tired, Roxas couldn't help but assume Xaldin acted like this all the time. He definitely seemed very no-nonsense and impatient. He felt a little silly for being intimidated, but when he stood up and went to approach him along with everyone else, he realized how fucking giant Xaldin was. His intimidation suddenly felt appropriate and he found himself walking closer to Marluxia than intended.

Marluxia looked down at the blond, catching his gaze. He smiled and ruffled his hair reassuringly. '_Don't worry, little kitten, I'll keep you safe!_'

Roxas scowled to suppress the blush that threatened to spill over his face in order to keep a sense of pride about searching for protection.

In the span of about 20 minutes or so, Xaldin showed them all the rooms in the house, except for the insides of the bedrooms in use and Vexen's lab, which he explained was always locked. No one was supposed to be in there without Vexen. Throughout the entire trip, Xaldin seemed about ready to slam anyone who asked questions into a wall.

Still, questions happened. Marluxia asked why Vexen didn't live in the house and Larxene asked if they would each get their own room and some other questions got asked. Even though he seemed irritated, Xaldin answered their questions without murdering anyone.

"What are all the pictures on the wall in the main hallway?" Roxas wondered at the end of the tour when they'd stopped in the kitchen.

"Oh, well, for some god damn reason, Xemnas thinks we all have to be friends. So he does all this weird shit to get us to bond. Those pictures are one of the tactics he uses. Basically, each person in the Organization is supposed to provide three pictures of themselves at three different ages. They're supposed to help share our worlds with each other so they're supposed to be pictures of us with family and doing things. But some people, like Vexen, get lucky and get to use school pictures," Xaldin explained.

"Although, once you graduate high school, the whole ball game changes. Your life will probably be more connected to here with us than anywhere else with anyone else. It has something to do with fate or destiny or something gay like that."

"So, who all lives here right now?" Naminé wondered, sounding meeker than normal. She hadn't spoken amongst the group much at all, even when she was talking to Axel and Demyx.

"Everyone, basically, except for Vexen and Xigbar. Vexen lives away by choice, but Xigbar was forced out because he got really hammered one night and did a lot of property damage. Plus, he'd bring home these lays every day and just fuck around all day, which was distracting if you were ever home while he was as well. Xemnas kicked his sorry ass out, though," he answered, seeming a bit less irritated than before.

"Anyway, that's basically everything. Do whatever the fuck you want. I couldn't care less. If you break anything, though, or steal any alcohol, you'll end up paying one way or another," Xaldin concluded.

"So, you never drink, then? Because I'm assuming you're not 21 yet," Marluxia piped up.

The irritation returned immediately to the giant man. "No, of course I'm not 21. I'm 19 years old. If you want to have alcohol, you have to contribute money and keep it a secret from Vexen, Saïx, and Xemnas. Vexen can be persuaded sometimes if he catches you, but you want to avoid getting caught drinking alcohol by Saïx or Xemnas. Lexaeus got caught once. He had to pay a $300 fine to Xemnas and clean the bathrooms every week for a month if he wanted to continue living here."

"I don't recommend getting smashed on your first day hanging out here, but if you really want a drink, nobody important will be here until dinner, which is usually at like 6 or so. And if you do, just drop a few dollars into the jar in the kitchen. That's the grocery money. And now that I've mentioned it, the Superior probably wants you to stay for dinner, just to let you know."

The group thanked Xaldin and then retreated back to the living room. The group basically just continued what they were doing, except Zexion started reading a book he'd brought along, and Axel joined Marluxia and Roxas' conversation.

At some point, though, Lexaeus did descend the stairs and walk through the living room to the kitchen clad only in a pair of boxer briefs. Roxas noticed the faint blush on Zexion's face as the bluenette watched the giant man intently. He had admit, the sight of a shirtless Lexaeus was quite pleasant with his muscular physique and air of intelligence. After that, Demyx felt so insecure he played a ballad which he dedicated and sang just for Zexion, who rewarded him by making out with him on the couch.

Everyone stayed in their positions almost the whole time. A few of them did venture into the kitchen at some point, though, to get food. Lexaeus and Xaldin also fluttered about the house a bit, doing chores sometimes, and other times hovering to examine the newbies. Luxord arrived at some point and took Larxene to an undisclosed location where they presumably did dirty things together. Xigbar also dropped by briefly to talk to Xaldin about something, but left shortly thereafter.

At around 5:30, Xaldin came into the room and demanded that someone help him prepare dinner. Naminé jumped at the opportunity, probably tired of drawing after having done it for nearly five hours straight. The smell of food cooking filled the air soon after, and Demyx went to go spy on Xaldin to make sure he wasn't mean to Naminé, which Zexion didn't find nearly as charming as Demyx probably thought he would.

At that point, Lexaeus, as if he'd been waiting in the shadows for this opportunity, entered the room and sat on the couch next to Zexion. He flicked on the TV located above the fireplace, in front of which sat the couch. Axel, Marluxia, and Roxas watched them like hawks out of their peripherals, ready to leap in to stop Lexaeus if he tried anything. Eventually, the giant man yawned and stretched, but instead of wrapping his arm around Zexion as the cliché followed, he merely brushed his hand over Zexion's shoulder. Surprisingly, the bluenette's face burst into crimson and seemed very embarrassed and shy.

Right on time, though, Demyx came charging in and took Zexion by the hand to sit on the opposite side of the couch, where he shot his boyfriend's offender an intensely possessive look before making out with the bookworm once more. Zexion himself seemed relieved at this and wrapped his arms around the sandy blond, openly accepting his advances.

Axel, Marluxia, and Roxas all exchanged glances before silently logging the information of what had just happened in their minds.

Saïx and Xemnas showed up afterwards and welcomed the group to the headquarters. They then invited them all to the dining room to wait for dinner. Xemnas seemed especially pleased to hear that Naminé had volunteered to help Xaldin prepare dinner, and Roxas couldn't help but grin at the silverette's earnest attitude about the old and new members of the Organization coming together and bonding. It was actually quite endearing.

Roxas, who'd taken a seat next to Axel, decided he liked Xemnas when the silverette asked how he was doing and if he was feeling any better. The blond couldn't really explain the feeling that warmed his stomach at the fact that this grown man who'd only known him personally for a couple of weeks was so honest and caring about him. The principal's intimidating look only made it more endearing.

Somehow, by some miracle, Roxas managed to get Zexion practically suffocating by means of laughter with the use of various puns and clever usage of references from subject matter they both enjoyed. Both he and the blond experienced an intense fit of laughter a little after they received their food, a plate of angel hair pasta with capers and pesto, a small salad, and cheesy potato slices. The group of teenagers all expressed surprise to hear Zexion laughing so much that his laughter transcended the typical guffaws and reached squeaky, air-laughter.

"Zexion, are you drunk?" Marluxia wondered, absolutely perplexed.

The bluenette shook his head, seeing as he was unable to respond verbally. "N-no…!" He managed to calm down his laughing enough to give a better response. "I'm not… drunk. I don't… know… what's gotten into… me..!" He burst into a fresh fit of chortles after managing the last bit.

The pair of best friends' laughter receded after a few more minutes and they just chuckled to themselves. Luckily for everyone else, this meant their conversation could continue without the sudden and loud cackling that had been interrupting them before.

"This is really good food," Axel complimented Xigbar, looking fairly impressed. Roxas knew the redhead really prided himself on his cooking, so this compliment surprised the blond. Though, to be fair, this meal _was_ absolutely delicious.

"Well, it should be good. I wanna transfer to a culinary school after I finish my general education at community college. My stupid parents refused to pay for my tuition at a culinary school until I get all these stupid general education credits. Assholes think I need a basic college education to fall back on in case cooking 'doesn't work out.' I did get accepted to my choice school, but I have to defer for two years and my spot isn't absolutely guaranteed after the second year so it basically fucking sucks," the raven-haired man growled.

"Watch your language," Xemnas admonished him without looking up from his plate.

Everyone at the table save for Lexaeus and Saïx snickered at the scolding.

"So, Asshole-Who-Dumped-Zexion, what are your plans?" the pinkette wondered, eyeing Lexaeus with an unreadable expression on his face.

Lexaeus took a moment to glance over at the mention of the bluenette, but he was still chuckling away and didn't appear to have even heard his name brought up. "I'm also going to community college. My parents couldn't afford to send me to university right away. I plan to major in English literature and minor in education. I'm thinking I'll become a teacher."

Marluxia snorted in disapproval. "That's fucking stupid."

Axel rang out with a cackling laugh at that, making the pinkette glare at him.

"You shut your mouth, you red-headed demon," the older teen growled at him.

After a few minutes of calmly talking together and eating, Vexen showed up, much to Marluxia's pleasure. Roxas grinned at the way his friend's face lit up as the blond teacher took a seat next to Saïx. The younger blond couldn't help but notice how graceful Vexen was as he sat, sighed, and ran a hand through his hair to rid his face of loose golden strands. He looked almost like a real life elf, in Roxas' opinion. He could definitely see the teacher wielding a bow and arrows.

Xaldin chuckled gruffly and grinned at the educator. "So, Vexen, who is he?"

Immediately, Vexen shot a mild glare at the raven-haired man. "I have no idea what you're talking about," he responded, though it was quite clear that he was simply feigning innocence.

Roxas could see Marluxia practically trembling at the edge of his seat, a fierce look of hope burning at his blue eyes.

"C'mon, you never push your hair back like that or sigh like that unless you've got someone on your mind. Is it that guy at the post office that you insist on visiting to 'buy stamps'?" the gorilla-like Xaldin wondered, clearly amused.

"I'll have you know that I use a large number of stamps! And anyway," a mischievous twinkle sparkled in the blond's eyes, "I never kiss and tell."

Roxas could practically feel Marluxia's innards crumbling to bits. His inner turmoil appeared on his face for but a moment before he forcibly took control of his outer expression. Roxas knew that was only a front, though. The pinkette's forehead turned completely blank and he shifted his focus to the food in front of him.

Not long after, Marluxia and Larxene, who'd been pretty quiet the entire meal because she'd been either preoccupied whispering things back and forth with Luxord or eating, began bickering. Larxene had started the argument at first, saying that Marluxia's outfit didn't match. The pinkette, not one to take insults lightly, fired back telling the girl that her dye job was tacky.

"Well at least when my roots grow in it doesn't look fucking disgusting!" she retorted.

"Oh, please, like dark brown roots look good on blond hair. That look is so ten years ago. It just looks like you can't take care of yourself." Marluxia scoffed and rolled his eyes. "But I suppose that _is_ the truth, isn't it? You _don't_ take care of yourself."

Larxene abruptly got to her feet, leaning over the table and slamming her hands against the table. "Fuck you, Marluxia! I take care of myself just fine! At least I'm not running around trying to please my dear beloved mommy."

"Oh, right, and I'm sure knowing that you're all alone in this world with a dad who doesn't give two shits about you is comforting. Maybe if you cared about anyone aside from yourself you'd be happier! Did you ever consider that?"

By now the rest of the table had stopped their conversations to listen and watch. Xemnas tried to keep everything orderly and clean. Neither Larxene nor Marluxia seemed to hear him, though. They were simply too absorbed in their own argument to hear anything else.

"Shut up, that's _none of your business_! And maybe I am happy! Maybe I don't _want_ to be close to my old man. And I _do_ care about people!"

"Larxene, you don't care about _anyone_! If you fucking _cared_, you wouldn't have convinced Naminé to make a fool of herself like you did! And none of this bullshit would've happened! You fucking _knew_ it wasn't going to work. But you convinced her anyway!" Marluxia shouted, also getting to his feet. Flames flickered on this insides of his eyes and his face seemed to be glowing bright red.

"No, no, no, you're not blaming this on me! This is all _his _fault!" the girl threw an accusatory gesture in Roxas' direction. "You fucking know it, too! I had Naminé's best interest at heart. I wanted her to see what a fucking creep he is and she should be mad at him anyway because he _stole_ her best friend! Like it already wasn't bad enough that Demyx got stolen from her too by Zexion? And then Zexion gets taken by Roxas? All. His. Fault."

Marluxia scoffed and practically spewed venom. "How fucking _dare_ you try to blame this on Roxas! He's the victim of all this shit! He's sitting there with a fucking black eye, a split lip, and god knows what else because of _you_! And it doesn't help Naminé in any way. In fact, it just makes things more difficult because now Roxas is mad at _her_ when he should be mad at _you_ because there's no way Naminé told Seifer about what happened! You had to have told him!"

"So what if I did tell him, huh? What're you gonna do about it? Turn back time? Hmm?" Larxene laughed humorlessly. "And why the fuck are you defending that little shit! He doesn't even belong with us. He should never have come to Radiant Garden. I'm, sure he'd be fine off in Destiny Islands with his faggot friends and stupid fucking brother!" she shrieked.

Marluxia reciprocated the dry laughter and grinned maliciously at the blonde. "So now we've come full circle, I see." A scowl replaced his smile and he spoke in a calmer tone. "You know what the _real_ problem here is? Your jealously. Because you can't handle the fact that everyone likes Roxas. And maybe, everyone likes Roxas better than they like you. And you _hate_ that. You don't even care about the fact that Naminé may be drifting over to the dark side, it's _me_ that really has you worried. The one person who's specialized in dealing with your bullshit is being lured away. And do you wanna know why? You wanna know why I'm defending him like this?" His tone picked up volume and intensity at this point. "Because unlike you, Roxas is likeable, interesting, funny, not a complete bitch, a nice person, dependable, trustworthy, and he has things you don't have like a fucking personality and a future and friends that actually like listening to him talk because he doesn't have a _whiny fucking voice that always just complains about absolutely everything and has the capacity to talk about meaningful things and to everyone else, he isn't just a hole to fuck_!" by the time he finished the sentence his loud tone had transformed into a furious roar.

Before Larxene could really respond to all that, Marluxia turned away from the table and began marching towards the door. On the way, he pulled Roxas to his feet and then lifted the boy over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. Roxas was too distraught and dumbstruck over the entire fight that he didn't really protest or say anything.

"Marluxia!" Larxene seemed very defeated at this point, her strength gone. "How am I supposed to get home?"

Marluxia stopped just before leaving the room to look back at his best friend. "I guess you'll have to take that up with Demyx. But I doubt he'd be so willing to help you out now, seeing as you helped break his sister's heart and physically harm Roxas." And with that, the two were gone.

Roxas found a lump had begun to form in his throat, so he fought to swallow it back down. Even though he'd known Larxene was kind of a bitch, he hadn't expected her to be so cruel or to hate him so much. He wished Axel were with him. He'd feel better if he could hold Axel's hand.

"Marluxia, where are we going?" the blond wondered, upset at how weak his voice sounded. The pinkette had put him back on his feet after they reached the pink Toyota Corolla in the driveway. He'd taken the cue to get in and now looked on at his friend, as if Marluxia could just make sense of all this for him. His mind was too jumbled to register what had just happened on his own.

"Don't look at me with those big, blue eyes, Roxas. That's too cute for how angry I am right now," the taller boy snapped at him as he began to exit the driveway and drive through the neighborhood.

"Sorry," the younger boy murmured and looked down at his lap, a bit discouraged by Marluxia's sudden outbreak.

"We're going to my house. I can't handle anyone right now. But you," Marluxia gave a weak smile as he glanced over at the blond for a moment, "you, I can handle any day. You're a real trooper."

Roxas didn't respond verbally, a small smile unfurling on his face.

Silence pervaded for the rest of the ride. They exchanged no words even when they arrived at the pinkette's house. The older teen simply led the blond to his room, holding tightly to his wrist as they went. Shortly after, Roxas found himself on Marluxia's bed, the other boy's arms around his waist.

"You're not gonna try to sleep with me, are you?" Roxas jokingly wondered.

Marluxia chuckled before responding, and Roxas could feel the pinkette grin against his side. "Normally, I'd be clinging to Larxene or Naminé. But you can understand why that's not possible right now."

Roxas smiled, but didn't really know what to say after that. He and his friend simply relaxed there together, and it took the blond nearly five minutes to realize Marluxia was silently crying. That kind of alarmed him because he'd thought things were just quiet because they were comfortable.

"Marly? Are you okay?" he asked gently, wrapping an arm around his desolate companion and rubbing his back soothingly.

"Vexen fucking played me. My best friend's a total bitch. Naminé's super depressed. You have a black eye. I missed the deadline for one of my college applications. I haven't had sex in months," he explained in short, choppy sentences, just enough to get his points across.

"Well, things will work out eventually. You and Larxene and Naminé and all of us are fated to be besties forever, according to Xaldin."

A subtle nod served as the only response. Silence followed and hovered over them the rest of the night, Roxas falling asleep at Marluxia's house on accident.

* * *

><p>"So how did last night go for you?" Roxas wondered, resting his elbows on the table in front of him.<p>

He sat at a booth in the café Zexion had told him their group frequented, especially in cold weather. The two best friends sat across from each other with a mug of coffee each and a plate with a small Bundt-shaped teacake between them that they were sharing. Both were visibly tired, causing Roxas to wonder what had happened on his end.

After waking up at Marluxia's house, the pinkette dropped him off at home. Zexion came out of his house before Roxas had even gone inside his own home and asked if he'd be willing to go eat breakfast at the café with him. Roxas quickly ran into his house to change and tell Sora, who he caught cuddling with Riku in the bottom bunk.

"It was exhausting. After Marluxia carried you out, Larxene asked if Demyx would give her a ride home, but Demyx absolutely refused. I don't think I've ever seen him act the way he did yesterday. He seemed absolutely livid, and he spoke extremely sarcastically. The other Organization members started asking about what had happened, but truthfully, I don't know what happened, nor does Dem. Naminé pulled me outside before I could really hear about what had happened. I spent much of my evening trying to console her about something I know nothing about. She probably would've slept over at my house if Demyx hadn't insisted that he take her home and tuck her into bed," he explained.

"Oh." Roxas didn't really know what to say.

"What _did_ happen that caused all this? It's somehow connected to Seifer beating you up, isn't it?" the bluenette questioned.

Roxas sighed before taking a good sip from his beverage. "When I went to Marluxia's car on New Year's Eve, Naminé tried to sleep with me, but I turned her down. She was really embarrassed and wanted to forget it ever happened. I'm not a hundred percent sure, but I think Marluxia tried to talk her out of doing it, but Larxene convinced her to, anyway. Then Larxene told Seifer something about what had happened, but she must've told him something different happened, because he thought I was the one trying to sleep with her. That's what happened."

Zexion nodded understandingly. "So how was Marluxia's house? Did he charm you into his sheets?" He grinned at this, a playful expression overtaking his face.

"Oh, yes, it was spectacular. I enjoyed a lovely night with him." The blond rolled his eyes, but smiled good-naturedly.

"I have heard that Marluxia performs exceptionally well, so I'm not surprised. I'm sure he made you feel special."

Roxas took a piece of the teacake, not wanting to respond. Truthfully, he felt really bad for Marluxia, and didn't want to tell Zexion about the conversation he'd had with the pinkette or that he'd been crying. Marluxia wasn't the type to cry, but Roxas thought it perfectly understandable that he'd be upset about Vexen possibly having relations with someone else. Marluxia was typically very promiscuous, but he'd stopped sleeping around to pursue a serious relationship with the older man. He'd grown attached to him and they'd been fairly affectionate with each other so long as no one around them posed as threats. To hear that his effort was going to waste and that everything had been for naught must've hurt.

"We must've made some impression on the other Organization members," Zexion said with an almost bitter grin. "The first time we all got together, there was Lexaeus and I, me hating him and him trying to reconcile with me. And the second time we entered their house, Larxene and Marluxia have a huge fight, Naminé's crying, I'm trying to calm her down, Marluxia's carrying you out the door, Larxene's yelling at Demyx, Demyx is being a total asshole, and Axel's looking very unsure of what the fuck is happening. That must have been quite the spectacle. I'm sure we made a good impression on everyone."

A grin also split Roxas' face and he chuckled. "Yeah, I guess you're right about that. I bet we look like a bunch of crazy assholes to them. Definitely looking forward to going back to that house."

"You're not doing anything else today, right?" Zexion queried, also taking a slice of the teacake.

Roxas shook his head gently as he sipped his coffee. "We could just hang out. It's not like anyone else is free or willing to hang out today."

His blue-haired friend agreed with the idea, and they eventually decided to go back to the Organization headquarters to explain the situation a little bit without anyone going ape shit insane. Luckily for them, the three people they wanted to explain this to—Vexen, Saïx, and Xemnas—were present when they arrived. They seemed confused to see the two without anyone else with them, probably because they didn't suspect that either of them had their driver's licenses.

They settled in together in a smaller living room than the one the group had been spending time in the previous day. This one had just a few couches and a coffee table. Xaldin had briefly mentioned that they had a sitting room for smaller private conversations, usually used by Vexen to help study their powers.

Roxas and Zexion found themselves seated across from the three adults on a plush, light pink sofa. "We just came here to explain what happened last night. Zexion and I thought we all must've looked pretty crazy, so we wanted to explain ourselves a bit."

The three adults looked at each other, and then Xemnas nodded for the blond to continue.

"Well, I can't really tell you guys what happened to lead up to this exactly, because it's not really your business, but basically, Larxene convinced Naminé to do something on New Year's Eve that she shouldn't have. Marluxia tried to talk her out of it, but she wouldn't listen, so she did the thing. It kind of blew up in her face like Marluxia said it would and it basically left her really hurt. And then Larxene and Marluxia started arguing and yelling at each other. I was involved against my will, because apparently Larxene hates me, which I didn't know before yesterday. Those are the basics of what happened to lead up to last night," Roxas told them.

"Though, Marluxia probably wouldn't have started arguing with Larxene yesterday if he hadn't been in such a bad mood," Zexion added, staring directly at Vexen, who seemed a bit weirded out by the strange eye contact.

Xemnas leaned forward in his seat and gazed directly into Roxas' face. "Tell me, is Larxene the one who assaulted you?" he interrogated.

Roxas looked to Zexion for support, silently asking if it was okay to spill the beans. The bookworm knew their housing situation better than he did. When he received a shrug and a nod in response, he supposed that was a go-ahead to tell their principal the truth. "Look, I really didn't want to get him in trouble because Demyx and Naminé rely on him and he's legally required to take care of them, so if he gets suspended or expelled, it could affect them. I'll tell you who did it, but I don't really want to get him in trouble."

The silver-haired man considered this for a moment, but nodded eventually. "I understand. I'm sure I can find a suitable punishment for this perpetrator that doesn't affect them in any way. Please tell me, who harmed you?"

After a small, defeated sigh, Roxas uttered out the final piece of the confession. "It was Seifer, Demyx and Naminé's older brother. Larxene told him I was messing around with Naminé, which I'm not, and he pummeled me for it. He had his friend Rai hold me up by the wrists and then he just… attacked me."

"Seifer Almasy? I suppose I should have known. He's been in my office too many times before. Don't worry Roxas, I'll be sure to give him a fitting punishment. I won't tell him that you told me what happened. I can just say that someone else saw what happened and then relayed those events to me. And suspending or expelling him would only result in hurting Naminé and Demyx, as you've stated. I try to punish only those who break school rules, so I'll be sure to keep this incident off his record. Thank you for trusting me, though, Roxas," Xemnas gave a comforting smile.

They left the headquarters after that and decided to return to Roxas' house and just watch TV. While lounging there on the couch just before the bluenette had to go home, Zexion revealed that he'd be visiting his mother in the insane asylum the following day and then hanging out with Riku once he returned home, meaning he wouldn't see Roxas at all the following day. They then had a brief talk, confirming that they both knew about what was happening with Riku and the whole cancer thing.

Later that night, Roxas lie awake in bed thinking about Riku. Questions and different scenarios ran through his mind. Somewhere in the pit of his stomach, he had a feeling that things would be okay, but he dared not tell anyone about this, lest he jinx it. He fell asleep thinking of doctors and rubber gloves.

* * *

><p>The next morning, Roxas rode to school with Axel in his truck. Silence still hung over them even though they had no bad blood with each other. The air just seemed thick and uncomfortable, making Roxas' face feel feverish. He didn't really know what to expect from today. The group hadn't seen each other since Saturday when everything went to shit, with the exception of Zexion and Roxas hanging out and Demyx and Naminé, being that they were siblings.<p>

Part of Roxas hoped that Larxene would decide to stay away from everyone just because nobody had responded quite yet. He had a feeling that things would be ugly if she did show up, since everyone probably knew now what had happened, unless nobody told Demyx, which the blond completely understood. Still, Demyx, Marluxia, and probably Naminé herself were probably still mad at Larxene. Axel hadn't really said anything about it, and his forehead held nothing about the matter at hand.

When the couple arrived at their typical hangout spot, they found Demyx sat against the vending machines with Naminé tucked protectively between his legs and his arms around her. The poor girl still seemed very broken and sad, Roxas noticed right away. He offered her a smile when she looked up at him, hoping to lift her spirits at least a little bit. Her mouth stretched outward just enough so that she could return the smile with a pitiful one of her own.

"Good morning," he greeted the both of them as he and Axel sat next to their friends.

"Morning," the blonde girl responded.

Neither Marluxia nor Larxene showed up that morning. At nutritional break, however, Marluxia did show up. Larxene was still nowhere to be found, but that was okay with Roxas. He did feel a little bad for her. He didn't fully understand why Larxene felt so threatened by him or why Marluxia would consider Roxas his "favorite" like he'd said the night everything had happened. It seemed weird to him that their friendship, which had existed since their childhood, would suddenly crumble away. From the way Marluxia had described their childhood together, it sounded like Larxene was relatively the same person as she'd been back then. He didn't really want to ask Marluxia about it, though.

The rest of the school day dragged on, and Roxas really just wanted it to be over so he could be with Axel. More than anything, he just wanted Axel's warmth and to sleep in his bed with food there next to him when he woke up in the morning. Nothing sounded nicer, but it was unlikely he'd be able spend the night at the redhead's house. Luckily, though, Axel didn't have work that day, so they could at least hang out after school.

"Axel, let me sleep over for the rest of my life, okay?" Roxas grumbled as he tumbled into the redhead's bed and curled up under the sheets. He turned to look expectantly at his boyfriend.

Axel stood there chuckling for a moment before he took the hint and joined the blond. "Sorry, Rox, it'd cost way too much to feed you. You eat like a pig with five stomachs. Not to mention, Reno wouldn't appreciate all the noise at night," he responded once he'd cuddled up with Roxas.

The blond sighed as Axel's body slowly warmed up. He gripped the redheaded around the waist with the might of Thor himself and buried his face into the older boy's neck and collarbone. "Well, he'd get used to the noise eventually. More importantly, you wouldn't be able to walk for a very long time."

A scoff rustled Roxas' hair a bit. "_I_ wouldn't be able to walk?" pressed his warm hand to Roxas' neck and guided the boy's head upwards so they were eye to eye. "I think you're mistaken, little lady," he murmured in a hushed, husky tone before pressing his lips to the smaller teen's.

Roxas readily reciprocated the affection and interwove his lips and tongue with Axel's. The relief that spread through his body slowly in the form of chills brought Roxas to a much-relaxed state and it felt tremendous in comparison to how uncomfortable and awkward things had been since two days ago. Unfortunately, their make-out session ended abruptly when Roxas' phone rang out annoyingly loud.

Grumpy, he broke the kiss with his boyfriend and retrieved his phone. He couldn't help but roll his eyes when he saw Marluxia's name on the caller ID. While he felt terrible about everything that had happened to the pinkette, he did not appreciate having his special time with his boyfriend interrupted. Not that the senior knew about their relationship. Still, it was annoying.

"Hello?" he couldn't help by growl into the phone.

"_Well, jeez Roxas, don't sound so excited to hear me," _Marluxia immediately responded without even saying hello back.

"Sorry, I guess," the blond murmured, beginning to play with the drawstrings of Axel's hoodie. He looked up at his boyfriend's face for a moment to see him staring at Roxas with irritation radiating from his eyeballs, directed right at the phone in his hands.

"_I'm not interrupting anything, am I?"_

Roxas sighed and scratched at the back of his head. He curled one of his legs idly around Axel's. By the looks of things, Marluxia wanted to vent, which would definitely take away the only source of relaxation he'd felt within the past two days. At the same time, he couldn't find it in himself to refuse. He wanted to be reliable. "No, I guess not," he replied with a sigh. And with that, Marluxia spouted like a waterfall. Everything on his mind came tumbling out.

Unsurprisingly, Axel lost patience with this situation quickly and apparently decided to have some fun. He began rubbing against Roxas sensually with his hands and other body parts.

Roxas fought desperately to keep his breathing and voice normal even as his secret boyfriend began feeling him up with his large, warm, rough, sexy hands. His breathing began to hitch before long and Marluxia was starting to sense something was off, Roxas could tell. When Axel dared to be bold and full on groped and rubbed his hand against Roxas' package, he couldn't help but let out an unmistakable sexual whimper-grown combination.

"_Roxas?"_

The blond's entire face grew ridiculously hot and he almost couldn't speak for he was so embarrassed. Punching Axel in the chest definitely helped him retain some form of dignity. "S-sorry, Marluxia. I have to go." Hastily, he hung up the phone and shifted in place so he could glare at Axel.

"I hope you enjoyed that," he began sarcastically, "because now Marluxia probably knows I'm fooling around with someone."

Axel shrugged and shook his head. "You could always tell him you're with Naminé. I'm sure that'll clear things up." The redhead gave the blond a shit-eating grin and laughed when Roxas hit him again. "Relax, short stuff, he'll never figure it out so long as you don't tell him. He doesn't even know you enjoy the feeling of man junk pressed up against you, does he?"

"He doesn't, but that's not the point!" Roxas scowled at the redhead. "You know he's not gonna leave me alone about that. He's definitely gonna bring it up. What am I supposed to say?"

"Well, that's your own fault for ignoring your lovely boyfriend who you love so much." Axel stuck his tongue out at the blond.

Roxas returned the gesture without a second thought before he curled back into the crook of Axel's neck. He placed a gentle kiss on the older teen's neck. "I know this probably sounds weird since it's not like we've been fighting or anything, but I kind of missed you. The last few days seemed to drag on and I just really wanted to kiss you." The sound of Axel chuckling sent Roxas' stomach into a flurry and he couldn't help but practically melt against the older boy.

"Oh, Roxy, you're so cute. And that's good news. It means you're starting to get addicted to me. Soon you won't be able to go more than an hour without seeing my lovely face. I'll have to tuck you into bed at night and wake you up in the morning. Look forward to that moment, because it is coming soon."

Not knowing how to even respond to that, Roxas settled for rolling his eyes.

"Oh, also, if you really missed me, you wanna hang out again tomorrow? We could go on those things—oh what are they called again? A date? Wanna go on one of those things with me?" he wondered. He softly ran his fingers through the blond's hair with one hand and stroked Roxas' side with the thumb on his other hand.

"What? You're off again tomorrow?"

"Mhmm," Axel hummed, "I covered someone's shifts twice now, so they're paying me back. I thought it would be nice to go out to eat or something."

"Couldn't we just hang out? I'm sorry, but I don't really want to go out on a date. I'd rather save that for a weekend or something so that we could stay up later. Plus, my parents are already fed up with me not being home for dinner much lately. Is that okay?" Roxas wondered, pulling his head away from the redhead's neck so that he could lock eyes with the boy.

Axel facial expressions ran through a quick bout of visible swooning and he gazed at the younger boy with great affection. "Rox, you're so fucking cute. Of course we can hang out tomorrow! Come here," he murmured the command before placing a nice kiss on the blond's lips.

The couple spent the evening together mostly cuddling, though they took a break from that to eat dinner, which Axel insisted he prepare. He seemed especially enthusiastic to cook for the blond today, which Roxas found endearing. He couldn't help but wonder how long it would take for Axel to completely spoil him, but at the same time, he kind of didn't mind the idea.

When he finally arrived home from Axel's house, he watched TV with his family for a bit until he decided to head to his room. Sora—who now had his legs free of casts but still needed to use a wheel chair until he went through physical therapy—decided to go with him. Roxas offered to help get the brunet into bed, but Sora refused his aid and insisted on getting there himself.

"You know, Roxas, now that my legs are almost healed all the way, I think I want to get a job," his twin confessed before beginning to change into his pajamas.

This surprised Roxas. He knew his twin had been restless in his wheelchair, but the idea of Sora wanting to work was weird. Even though he was very physically active, he was really lazy when it came to chores, and he hated doing work. He liked things handed to him if it wasn't fun to get. "You want a job?"

Sora pulled his shirt over his head before responding, "Yup! I've been wanting one for a little while, but I couldn't exactly get a job being crippled, you know? I was actually thinking it might be fun if I work at a daycare center or the Boys and Girls Club or the YMCA, or even just babysitting. I just really want to have a source of income. Plus, we have the car now and you don't use it that often, so it's probably okay for me to use it, and that could pay for the fuel," he explained.

Roxas shrugged. He could see Sora working with children. Back in Destiny Islands, the brunet had often volunteered to babysit some of their neighbors' and family friends' kids while they went out. Sora had always done really well working with them, and he loved children way more than Roxas understood. "I guess I could see you doing that. But what about water polo? Aren't you gonna play?"

"Actually, I'm not sure. I really want a job, but I really like playing water polo, too. Riku's not gonna be in water polo next semester, but Demyx and almost everyone else will be. Having money would be nice, but I think I'd miss swimming. I'm still debating about it. The thing with working at a daycare center is that kids go there right after school. I think if I could leave practice early, or if practice was shorter, it'd be fine, but right now I can't do both, even though I want to. Swimming practice lasts about an hour after school's over, so water polo practice might be the same. Dad already doesn't like that I do water polo and swimming, so I mean, that's also a benefit."

'_I just really don't want to be seen as a helpless little kid anymore. I want money and respect and maybe that's better than playing water polo._'

Roxas nodded in understanding. "Well, maybe you could ask your coach and see if you could work something out. He likes you, doesn't he? Maybe he'll help you out."

"Yeah, I guess I could do that. Thanks, Roxas." Sora smiled warmly at his brother, "You're always so supportive!"

* * *

><p>The following day went by normally. Zexion was there that day, back from visiting his mother. Larxene still kept her distance from the group. Roxas happened to see her talking on her phone and walking through the halls, but she either didn't see him or just chose to ignore him. He didn't really know how to feel about her at this point. He couldn't find it in himself to be angry at her like he'd been angry at Naminé, and that made him feel weird. He kept this to himself, though, deciding that it wouldn't help to bring it up to anyone.<p>

Marluxia did, in fact, confront Roxas about their conversation the previous day. He accused the blond of finally ridding himself of his V-card in front of the rest of the group. Of course, Roxas denied the claim, and of course, Axel pretended to be clueless, but Roxas could tell he was trying his best not to laugh. Unfortunately, Naminé didn't seem too enthusiastic when he admitted to having fooled around with someone. He absolutely refused to give the pinkette a name, and Zexion also seemed very curious.

Luckily for Roxas, Axel stepped in to sort of defend him, saying that there was no way someone like Roxas could get tail out of nowhere like that. "He obviously doesn't have enough game for that. He was probably masturbating when you were talking to him or something. I bet he has a thing for exhibitionism," the redhead had joked.

Marluxia grinned, and agreed with Axel. "Yeah, you're probably right. Roxas isn't exactly lady-killer material, and he probably has a bunch of weird kinks."

"Hey! I could get tons of girls if I wanted to!" the blond defended himself, not entirely sure if he appreciated Axel's help or not. It worked to get Marluxia off his scent, but he wasn't sure he liked the cost of that.

Marluxia and Axel howled with laughter in response. "Sure you can, Roxas!" Marluxia agreed with him in a break between series of cackles.

Though Zexion was a bit preoccupied with Demyx and Naminé, he was unconvinced by the ploy, evidenced by the skepticism on his forehead, which worried Roxas a bit. He didn't want to tell the bluenette anything, but he felt guilty since Zexion trusted him so much. It felt sort of wrong to keep this kind of information from him, especially since the bookworm had the uncanny ability to make himself seem as pitiful as possible. Roxas had never dealt well with guilt trips, which explained why he could never really turn Sora down.

As the day went on, though, he forgot about his dilemma. Finals were approaching within the next two weeks, and his classes had begun to pick up pace. He didn't have the mental capacity to worry about Zexion on top of classes and everything else.

Luckily, reprieve came for Roxas after school the moment he climbed into Axel's truck. The stress and weight of everything lifted off his shoulders the moment he buckled his seat belt. It almost felt like being around the redhead was a kind of therapy, and he knew it was probably the best thing for him currently.

"So, my house or your house?" Axel wondered as he began backing out of his parking space.

"Well, my dad should be working until like 6 today, my mom's not gonna be home 'til around then, either, and Sora has physical therapy until like 6:30," Roxas thought aloud. "We haven't been to my house in a while, why don't we go there?"

Axel nodded. "So, Sora's in physical therapy now? Are his legs better?" he questioned.

"Yeah, he's already had his casts taken off, he just needs to slowly get used to using them again," Roxas answered.

They chatted idly on the way home, discussing their finals and avoiding the subject of Larxene and Naminé.

When they entered the Strife household, Axel immediately went over to flop down on the couch in the living room while Roxas went to the kitchen to go get them a snack. The sounds of the TV drifted into the kitchen where the blond was putting popcorn in the microwave. He smiled to himself when he recognized the voices on the TV as the ponies of _My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic._ Minutes later, he had the popcorn in a bowl and returned to the living room to sit in Axel's lap, bowl in hand.

"Thanks, cutie pie," Axel grinned and kissed his temple gently before grabbing a small handful of popcorn.

Roxas grumbled in mock anger before settling against the redhead so they could watch Applejack run herself ragged trying to work for the money she would've gotten if she'd won first place in the rodeo. The blond had to admit that _My Little Pony_ wasn't a bad show, not like he'd expect from a show for little girls. Plus, Axel always lit up whenever they watched it, so it was no hardship to eat popcorn and watch it with him.

Once the show was over and the popcorn was gone, Roxas found himself straddling Axel's torso, arms wrapped around him, kissing him softly and very contentedly. Axel's warm hands rested on his back and side, running along both slowly and soothingly. A sudden wave of neediness overcame Roxas, and these soft, sweet kisses weren't good enough anymore. He found himself pressing harder against Axel, rolling his hips against the redhead's occasionally, and forcing their lips together more strongly.

"Ah, Rox, are we gonna fool around here in your living room?" Axel wondered through pleasured breaths once the younger boy had moved to his neck, licking and sucking at it.

"No way," the blond breathed hotly against the nape of his neck. "I just want to make out a little."

"Okay, but I know you can feel Mini-Axel poking into you, begging you for more. Just let that be a reminder of how you're torturing me."

Roxas chuckled. "Shut the fuck up, bitch." He bit at the base of Axel's neck, which he'd discovered was the most sensitive part of his neck area through their many intimate encounters.

Axel let out a groan and ground his hips upwards against Roxas, which made the blond whimper. He continued servicing Axel's neck in a way that was sure to give the redhead hickeys, but he couldn't seem to stop himself. He found himself getting really caught up in the act, kissing, licking, biting at Axel's Adam's apple and the veins in his neck which he danced with the redhead's whimpers, moans, and grunts. The absence of Axel's hands on Roxas' body led him to think that he, too, had gotten really caught up in the pleasure.

The sound of the front door closing registered vaguely in Roxas' mind and a moment of surrealism slowed his perception of time as he tried to remember in his clouded mind why that was bad. He realized the problem when he heard his father's voice seconds later.

"Roxas?" Cloud's voice spoke up, sounding surprised, weak, and confused all at once.

Roxas and Axel jolted out of their fuzzy mental states in less than half a second and they both whipped their heads in the direction of the adult. Roxas felt his entire body pale intensely. His vital organs ceased to exist, every possible noise immediately went silent, and he felt each drop of blood in his veins stop. He couldn't do anything but just stare at the very much dismayed look on his father's face, forehead completely blank.

Cloud blinked, his face white as the snow falling outside. His expression was completely blank, but emotion seemed to tug subtly enough at his features that Roxas could tell his father embodied everything he'd ever feared for him to feel in this exact situation.

Without thinking and just wanting to break the complete silence that had settled over them, Roxas blurted out, "I'm gay." It did register in his mind that that was probably very apparent. He was still straddling Axel, whose neck had traces of hickeys, and his arms were around the redhead's neck. There was no mistaking the situation, and Roxas felt his stomach begin to curdle when he realized that there was no way to justify this situation, especially after he'd already blurted out his most closely guarded secret.

In an instant, Cloud had turned on his heel and walked out the door, slamming it way harder than normal. The sound of his car starting outside came moments later before it could be heard tearing out of the driveway and down the street.

When everything had gone silent again, Roxas became aware of the fact that he was trembling. His skin crawled and twitched and seemed to have become a separate, parasitic entity. His heart raced so fast in his ribcage that he honestly thought he might die. It certainly felt like he was dying. He looked down at Axel, realizing he couldn't see the redhead clearly anymore because tears were blurring his vision so badly.

"Roxas," Axel breathed, completely understanding their situation. He didn't know how to express himself any more than that, the blond could tell.

Slowly, carefully, Roxas dismounted his boyfriend and sat next to him rigidly straight. "Maybe you should go," he murmured in nothing more than a whisper. His weak voice reflected his state of being.

Without even putting up a fight or protesting, Axel nodded and rose to his feet. And suddenly, he was gone. And Roxas sat there on the couch wondering what kind of shit he'd just brought onto himself. The time on the DVD player said it was only 4:30. His father wasn't supposed to come home for another hour and half. He slowly collected the bowl of popcorn kernels, cleaned it off, put it in the dishwasher, and proceeded to lean against the counter, every bit as jittery as before. He eyed his phone on the counter for a long moment before a tear finally broke the barrier and rolled down his cheek. With an air of incompetent finality, Roxas left the kitchen, leaving his phone, donned his jackets and boots, and exited the household.

The moment Roxas reached the slushy sidewalk in the streaming twilight, he felt utterly lost, in every sense of the word. His feet led him along regardless of his mental state, though. He couldn't feel the cold, couldn't feel his fingers freezing up, couldn't feel the tears trailing down his face. Roxas blinked once and suddenly he was in front of the Almasy mansion, the sun completely gone. He didn't remember the walk at all, only that he was here now.

Roxas put a hand to the iron gate and surveyed the driveway and house. No cars sat along the strip of pavement, but they could just be parked in the garage. The blond pushed at the gate anyway, finding that it was locked in place. He looked to both sides of the gate, finding a little box with buttons and stuff on it. Roxas figured this must be an intercom device. He pushed the largest button and stood there for a while, hoping that Seifer would not be the one to answer him.

"_Roxas?"_ came Naminé's voice through the little speaker next to a button labeled 'Talk.'

"Hey, Nam," he greeted after pushing the button to talk.

"_Roxas, are you crying? How did you get here?"_

Roxas nodded, figuring there was probably a surveillance camera pointing at him, explaining why Naminé knew it was him right away. "I walked. From my house."

The sound of the blonde girl sighing came over the intercom before she said, _"Okay, I'm opening the gate. Come in."_

Sure enough, the iron gates opened up, allowing Roxas freedom to enter. He stumbled up to the front door where Naminé was already waiting for him. She invited him inside the mansion and closed the door behind him. She then led him to the kitchen where she promptly began making hot chocolate.

After she turned on the coffee machine and had set everything in place, she sat with Roxas at the island counter and dabbed at his eyes with a tissue from a box that had been next to a pantry on one of the counters. "Roxas, you look so cold and tired and sad. Why are you even here?" she wondered.

Roxas spilled the absolute 100% truth in response. He told her about being gay and about Axel and his parents and Sora and Zexion's guilting him. He told her he didn't want to go back, that he wasn't ready to face this yet and how terrified he was. Even when he'd finished the hot cocoa she'd made for him, he found that he was still quaking and trembling with intense fear, which seemed to give the story proof.

Naminé sat in silence while she listened to everything, nodding in understanding every so often, never once seeming like she was judging him. She'd grabbed his hand at some point during his tale and that seemed to bring comfort to him.

Once Roxas was all finished with his story, Naminé closed her eyes for a moment and considered the blond's predicament. "Well, I mean, I guess you could stay here for a few days if you want. Until you're ready to face your family, not that you have to if you don't want. I get what it's like not to want to talk to your family about something so much you just want to hide. I won't make you do anything like that," she murmured in response once she'd collected her thoughts.

"But once I see Sora and everyone at school, I just know everything's gonna go to shit. I just don't think I can deal with all the shit that's happening already with this piled on top. I just don't think I can," he confessed, trying his hardest not to start crying again. He'd never really been much of a crier, except for when his anger got the best of him. He rarely cried in response to stress or sadness. This time, though, everything seemed like too much. He couldn't handle it all.

"Well, you can stay here as long as you like. You don't have to go to school if you don't want to. But you'd have to hide from Demyx and Seifer in that case. They'd never want to harbor a runaway. But me, I completely get it. And I also feel bad about all the shit that happened because of me, and I want to make it up to you," she explained.

Roxas gave the petite girl a sad smile. "You're a really great person, Naminé. And you don't have to worry about that. Like you said originally on New Year's, I just want to forget about that."

Naminé gave a heavy-hearted nod. She seemed extremely pleased, almost to tears, at that. Her forehead expressed her intense gratitude towards Roxas for thinking she was a great person and she didn't seem capable of talking for a few moments. "You can stay in my room, if you want. I think that'd be the safest place. I can just lock my door at night so that neither Demyx nor Seifer comes in. They're used to me locking my door sometimes."

With that, she placed the cup in the sink and led Roxas down a hallway, up a wide spiral staircase, and down a richly furnished hallway. She led him into her room, which had paintings, art supplies, and paper strewn everywhere about the place, along with clothes and jewelry. It was a fairly large room with a couple of couches, three or four desks, a large dresser and vanity, and a big, beautiful

"Do you mind sharing a bed? Or I can sleep on my couch if you want?" She placed a hand on her bed, which was an impressive size and stood several feet off the ground. It had white and light blue sheets and looked extremely comfortable.

"I guess I don't mind sharing a bed. Unless you do? I should be the one to sleep on the couch if either of us does. I'm the one needing a place to stay, after all," Roxas responded.

The blonde girl nodded and got up to sit on her bed. "Well, I'll be fine with sharing a bed. It's no big deal."

"Hey, by the way, where are Demyx and Seifer, anyway?" Roxas wondered as he walked over to join her.

"Oh they went to the store. They should be back soon, though." As if on cue, the moment she finished the sentence, there was a knock at her door. She and Roxas shared panicked looks for a moment before the boy dropped to the floor on the other side of the bed so that the person at the door couldn't see him. "Come in," Naminé called to the door.

Roxas felt his heart pounding in his ears as he lie there on the floor, hoping with all his might that he wouldn't get caught. As he lie there, he heard Demyx telling Naminé that he and Seifer were home. She said she wanted to go to sleep early that night, so they exchanged 'good night's and he closed the door and walked away. He only returned to the bed once Naminé called him up.

They both grinned at each other for a moment before the blond girl went over to lock the door. She then told Roxas she'd be changing in her closet and brushing her teeth and that it was okay if he slept in his underwear since he didn't have any form of night clothes with him.

Eventually, they ended up in Naminé's bed together, looking at each other silently. Roxas had noted that he'd probably arrived at around 6 o'clock, meaning it'd taken him nearly two hours to walk from his house to Naminé's. It was now 9:30 and Roxas was surprised he'd already been here for so long. He didn't think telling Naminé his story would take so long. But he didn't mind either way. He was just glad to have a friend like her to help him out.

"Roxas," she whispered to him in the dark. Her hands found his cheeks and she caressed them gently. "It's really too bad that you're gay. I think we would've been a great couple otherwise. Axel's lucky to have you."

Roxas couldn't help the sadness that tainted his smile when she said that. He couldn't believe how badly he felt for her. She was such a nice, sweet person, and she deserved someone kind to make her happy. When he fell asleep in Naminé's bed that evening, he dreamed of wedding dresses and dancing and Axel and thought that maybe this would all work out. Maybe everything would be okay.

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><p><strong>AN: **Oh no things are happening why.

Hey guys, let me know if you like this gigantic chapter length! Personally, I love it. It's like an actual chapter in an actual book. It's around 35 pages in Microsoft Word, and ahhh, so long and wonderful just like Axel's dick~! Sorry if it took you forever to read, though.

So yes, please tell me if you liked the chapter or hated it or you hate me or like me. I just am really proud of this chapter. It feels like things are taking shape. As they say: where doing it man. where MAKING THIS HAPPEN (eheheh Homestuck)

Have a nice day! I love and treasure you because you are special, don't let anyone dull your sparkle~


	31. Mister Dickskin

**A/N: **Hi there! How are you? Hopefully you're hanging in there!

Anyway, this chapter was much faster to write than the other one even though they're about the same length. I wouldn't get used to updates as quick as this one, however, because the only reason I got so much done is because I was stuck in a place for three or so hours where I could only write and managed to get something like 5k words down in that one sitting alone. I'll try to keep the updates fairly frequent, though, so let's see how that goes!

Also, before we get started, I want to address a confused anon because I couldn't answer your question since you're on anonymous! So, to answer your question, Sora and Roxas are out to each other and both are aware of Sora's feelings for Riku. The twins came out to each other in chapter 10, which is labeled BroCuddles Are Manly, 'Kay? And then in Chapter 11: Axel is so Lucky, Lucky, Sora flat out says he likes Riku. It's actually at the very beginning of the chapter. Before that, though, Sora kept his crush and the fact that he was gay a secret, but Roxas knew anyway because of his ability. So yes, I hope that answered your question!

Thanks to everyone who reviewed, favorited, and followed! You're all special little gum drops and sugary poetic things and make me feel all the cliché phrases in the world~

Please enjoy!

Kingdom Hearts © Disney and Enix

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><p>Roxas woke in the morning to the sound of "California Gurls" at full blast from the radio. He groggily opened his eyes and found a light blue wall somewhere in the distance and some paintbrushes splayed out on the floor in the space between the bed and the wall. It took him a moment to remember where he was, and when he did, the memory of everything that had happened last night crashed down on him and overwhelmed him. He rolled over in the bed to find that Naminé was sitting on the side of the bed, rubbing sleep out of her eyes.<p>

"Good morning," Roxas croaked, his throat completely dry.

Naminé seemed shocked for a moment from the way she stiffened in her seat, but she relaxed soon after when she also remembered last night. She turned to the blond boy and returned his greeting with a smile. "Sorry, I forgot that my alarm would wake you up."

"It's cool, you have to wake up somehow," Roxas responded.

"Okay, I'm gonna get ready and leave for school. After I leave, you have freedom to roam the house. The maid won't be coming today. Seifer won't be home until around 4:30 because he has detention for the rest of this and next month, but that could change if he stays out later with friends. Just try to keep an eye out for anyone coming home. Do you happen to have your phone with you?" she wondered.

Roxas shook his head.

Naminé kept talking as she entered her walk-in closet. "Alright, if I hear about any trouble, I'll call the house to let you know. If you have any questions or anything, the home phone has my cell number in it. Feel free to call anytime. Other than that, just take it easy, alright? Try to relax, it'll probably do you some good." She emerged from the closet with an outfit draped over her arm. Naminé paused before entering her ensuite. "You can borrow some of Demyx's clothes if you want, but they might be a bit large on you," she said before exiting the room and closing the door behind her.

With thoughts filling his head, Roxas just snuggled back into the blonde girl's bed. He found himself drifting off sooner than he'd expected, and when he awoke again, he found that the clock read 10AM. A strange feeling of contentedness overtook the blond upon discovering this. He lounged in the bed a bit before deciding to get up and have a look around the mansion. Before yesterday, he hadn't been in any part of the house except the romping room, two of the bathrooms, the foyer, and the kitchen.

As he explored the house, he found himself constantly astounded by its beauty. He'd never been in such a nice house before. Not even Riku's house had shit on this gorgeous abode. At the back of his mind he wondered what Naminé's parents did for a living, but he was too preoccupied with looking at everything to give the question much thought or attention.

After inspecting the whole place, Roxas decided to take a bath in Naminé's room. The bath looked more like a hot tub, big and deep. It could most probably accommodate three people comfortably. As he bathed, he couldn't help but imagine Axel in the bath with him, touching him, kissing him, fucking him. He felt a bit shameful at masturbating in Naminé's bathtub, but justified it to himself by saying that she'd probably had lots of sex in that bath and the amount of semen present before his addition could probably fill a good portion of the giant tub. Plus, he couldn't deny the relief that washed over him once he finished off.

Breakfast was next on the agenda, and Roxas, now clad in Demyx's clothes, found himself once again astounded by all the amazing food in the fridge and pantries. He decided to make an omelet for himself with some of the many raw ingredients in the fridge. He made sure to clean everything up and put it the way it was before he'd gotten there once he was finished.

At that point, he decided to surf the Internet and catch up on things there. He enjoyed how relaxing it all felt. It felt good to not have to hang out with anyone or do anything. He liked that he had the opportunity to slow down and ignore everything that was bothering him. When he heard the sound of a car in the driveway outside, he found that it was 4 o'clock and that his free time was basically over. Quickly, he retreated to Naminé's room and closed the door. When he peeked outside through the window's blinds, he saw Demyx's car in the driveway. He sighed and went to lie in Naminé's bed under the sheets.

Shortly thereafter, he heard Demyx's voice carry down the hall. Another voice accompanied his, though much quieter. Despite that it was extremely muffled and hard to hear, Roxas suspected it was Zexion's voice. Their voices slowly grew louder and Roxas became paranoid that they knew he was there and were coming to get him. Even though he knew it was ridiculous, Roxas went to hide under the bed after hurriedly smoothing out the sheets. It turned out to not be as ridiculous as he thought because Zexion's voice suddenly sounded right in front of the door, telling Demyx he was going to use the bathroom in Naminé's room. Demyx said okay from what sounded like the door directly before Naminé's.

Sure enough, the door opened and closed as Zexion entered. Instead of going to the bathroom, however, Roxas heard and saw the bed bend under Zexion's weight. He thought his heart would leap out of his chest to run around the room, revealing his hiding spot. Instead, Roxas heard Zexion sigh.

"Hello?" the bluenette's voice asked.

Roxas almost responded to that, but told himself not to at the last moment.

"Have you guys found him yet?" the bookworm continued on.

It took Roxas less than a second to realize he was probably talking about him.

"Well, did Axel know?" There was a bit of silence and then Zexion scoffing. "Look, you little shit, Roxas is _missing_. Get over yourself for a moment, alright? If Axel says doesn't know where he is then he doesn't know where he is. He would never fucking kidnap Roxas, you idiot. He's not like that at all, which you would know if you weren't so caught up in your delusions." He let out an angry sigh before asking, "Did you call the police yet?" A long bout of silence. "Alright. I'll tell you if I see him, okay? Bye."

At that point, Zexion stood from the bed with a sad sigh and left the room.

Roxas felt a wave of guilt crash over him and he just lie there feeling like shit. He didn't want his friends to worry about him, but he quickly realized he'd been a bit naïve and self-destructive to think they wouldn't care if he just up and left.

He heard Zexion and Demyx talking, but they were talking quietly and the wall muffled them too much for Roxas to hear what they were saying. They stopped talking after a few minutes, leaving Roxas to lie there and wallow in his guilt. He quickly got lost in his thoughts. It took the sound of Demyx crying out to break Roxas out of his thoughts.

The sound surprised him so much that it jump-started his heart and made him jump a little bit. He listened intently for a few moments wondering if he'd just imagined he sound. He found that he wasn't going crazy when he heard Demyx cry out again. At first he wondered what could be happening and crawled out from under the bed to sit on it so he could hear better.

When Demyx's voice carried through the wall the next time, Roxas realized they were probably fooling around. He felt his face grow very hot at the realization, and didn't quite know what to do with himself. He didn't want to leave the room for fear of being caught but he also wanted to give them privacy. He considered going to hide in the closet, but at the same time he felt too intrigued to move. So, there he sat on Naminé's bed listening to Demyx and Zexion have sex in the room next to him. The beds seemed to be pushed against the same wall, which made it much easier to hear. He struggled to resist the urge to reach his hand into his pants as he listened.

Soon, the moans increased in volume and frequency, and Roxas found it harder and harder to fight the urge to pleasure himself. When he heard the bed on the other side of the wall begin to rock against it and the sound of skin slapping together, he couldn't resist anymore. Demyx moaned and wailed loudly, sometimes they sounded like Zexion's name, but mostly, they were wordless cries. Roxas found his own self beginning to moan quietly along, and felt guilt festering at the back of his mind, but he currently couldn't deal with that. He was far too preoccupied jerking off.

The rate at which the bed collided into the wall increased as did the volume of Demyx's love cries, and Roxas figured they were both getting close to climaxing. Roxas found himself reaching his own end before they reached theirs, and spent his afterglow blissfully listening to his two friends orgasm on the other side of the wall. That was the first time Roxas had ever heard Zexion moan so loudly, his voice low and husky, and Roxas swooned at the discovery that he had a really sexy voice. When they quieted down, the blond decided to begin cleaning himself up. Luckily, he ended up mostly getting his hand all dirty, with only little bit of his seed ending up on the headboard of Naminé's bed. He looked around the room silently searching for tissues, and found a box of them under the sink in Naminé's bathroom. He quickly cleaned as quietly as possible and tossed the soiled tissues into the trash can in Naminé's bathroom.

After all the excitement, Roxas returned to his hiding spot under the bed, where he stayed and fell asleep.

A gentle shaking of his shoulder awoke Roxas, and he found Naminé looking at him with concern, on her knees to get a better look at him under the bed.

"Roxas, wake up," she told him in a hushed tone.

"What's up, Nam?" he wondered. "I'm awake," he assured her.

"Come out so we can talk," she said, getting to her feet again.

The blond did as he was told and crawled out from under the bed. He went to join Naminé on the couch. "So what's going on?"

"Well, everyone's looking for you at this point. I didn't tell anyone about where you are; I just wanted you to know. Sora and Axel are both going absolutely crazy, Zexion hasn't said a single word to anyone after he found out and Marluxia looked really worried about you." Naminé sighed and grabbed at Roxas' hands, holding them gently.

"I'm not going to tell you what to do, but I mean, I think you should only spend as long as you need here. People are honestly really worried about you. Zexion told me your parents already filed a missing person report with the police. Police might come around here. On Facebook, Sora put up a status asking if anyone has seen you. Basically, people are looking for you Roxas. I don't know your family all that well, but I can tell you that no matter what happens once you come out of hiding, your friends will support you. Just keep that in mind, okay?"

Roxas shook his head, hoping to scare away the tears threatening to fall. He couldn't deal with all this guilt. He couldn't handle this at all. He just wished he knew what his parents were thinking, especially his father. He knew that his friends would understand if he'd told them what was up, but he'd been too far gone to do so beforehand, and he knew that if he revealed himself now, Sora would find out and tell their parents. "I know that, Nam, I know. I already feel guilty enough about everything, okay?"

Naminé began stroking his hands with her thumbs soothingly. "Are you sure things are so bad with your family that you have to stay away?"

"Nam, you didn't see the look in my father's eyes. And he's the only parent that really cares about me. I just can't deal with that right now. I just can't."

Instead of arguing, Naminé just nodded sympathetically. "Okay. I understand. I'm sorry things are so hard for you right now." She opened her arms to him, and he gratefully hugged her. He'd forgotten how comforting hugs could be even when they didn't come from Axel and clung to the petite girl for a while before breaking apart.

"Thanks, Nam. I really appreciate everything. You have no idea."

"Roxas," she murmured with her warm breath at the nape of his neck. "I think I love you. I want to have sex with you." Her hands were on his arms, squeezing them.

Roxas was immediately taken aback and he pulled away to look at her, alarmed. They were in the middle of this bullshit partially because she wanted to sleep with him. Why would she continue to fuck things up? "Nam?"

Tears quickly filled in her eyes and ran down her cheeks. "Why do I want things I can't have?" she wondered sullenly with her eyes cast down at her hands, which now rest in her lap. "I wish you'd have sex with me."

A frowned took over Roxas' expression and he found himself in sorrowful understanding. He decided he could at least do her a little bit of kindness and put his hand to the crying girl's cheeks as he leaned forward to place a gentle kiss on her lips. When he pulled away, he saw that she had stopped actively crying, the only tears running down her cheeks were from before. He gave her a small smile. "I can't sleep with you or anything. You probably wouldn't want to anyway, since I don't know how enthusiastic about it I'd be. Hopefully that kiss was enough to satisfy you."

Naminé didn't respond right away. She gently ran a finger over her lips, clearly deep in thought. After a few moments she nodded. "Roxas, you're too nice to me. I'll try to find a guy who treats me as well as you do. I'm just super horny right now. Sorry."

Roxas laughed at that. "It's okay. I know what that's like."

"It's like six o'clock right now. I'm gonna go get laid. I probably won't come home tonight, so I suggest you sleep somewhere aside from my bed tonight in case my idiot brothers come in here. Tomorrow the maids come. They'll be here at like noon, but they're not allowed in our rooms, so just stay in either mine, Seifer's or Demyx's room. Got it?

Roxas nodded. "Good luck with your endeavor. Be safe."

Naminé grinned. "Of course. Good night!" And with that, she left the room, closing the door behind her. Roxas re-situated himself under the bed, deeming that the safest place to spend the night.

Roxas spent the following day in a fashion similar to the one before it. This time, Demyx and Zexion didn't come home and have carnal relations, however. Seifer was the first home, accompanied by Rai and Fuu. Roxas stayed in Naminé's room to avoid them and the day slipped away just like the last. Being that he had less time to distract himself, however, he did reflect on his position a good deal. He decided that he would probably be ready to handle everything at the end of next week. He wanted to go back on a weekend, but this weekend was simply too close for comfort. Honestly, he didn't know what to expect would happen, but he wanted to be re-energized enough to handle it.

The arrival of police shortly after Seifer got home kind of harshed his mellow a bit. He'd spied the police from Naminé's window and quickly decided to retreat under the bed just in case. They left around twenty minutes later, putting Roxas more at ease.

* * *

><p>The next day, Roxas spent a lot of time in Demyx's room. He'd never been in Demyx's room before, and he found himself quite curious about what his friend's living space looked like. He was actually quite surprised when he opened the door and found that it was really clean and organized. Instruments hung on the walls in holsters and the cases for those instruments were pushed neatly against the wall below the instrument they were to accommodate.<p>

The color scheme of his room, Roxas noticed very quickly, was an oceanic blue, and a mural of an ocean scene with mermaids playing on a rock was painted on the wall with all the instruments on it. The other walls held shelves with trophies for various things, some for swimming, others for water polo, and some for various types of music. Framed awards and ribbons also hung on the walls. It was definitely a very well-decorated and pretty room, which aesthetically pleased Roxas.

He spent a while just looking around at all the things hanging on the walls before he went to sit on the couch at the little coffee table in the room and looked through the magazines tastefully spread across the glass table top. When he grew bored of that, he felt the strange compulsion to look through Demyx's drawers. Although he knew it was kind of wrong to go through people's things, he couldn't stop himself. Honestly, he wasn't even looking for anything specifically. He just wanted to know more about his friend's room, perhaps because it seemed a little plain and devoid of the sandy blond's personality.

Eventually, Roxas came across a journal with "Captain's Log" printed on it in gold type. He opened it curiously and found that it was a diary. This discovery surprised him a bit because he didn't think Demyx was really the kind of person to keep a diary. With a bit of hesitation, the blond began to skim through it, finding that it contrasted with the piece of writing he'd caught Zexion writing a few weeks prior, although, that shouldn't have been a surprise. Demyx's sentences were very dry and directly to the point, which was both kind of nice and kind of repetitive, but Roxas wasn't about to lecture Demyx on his writing, especially not the writing in his journal.

Demyx talked about Zexion a lot, unsurprisingly, but his personality in writing seemed so different from real life. He sounded very inquisitive and curious, like he really thought deeply about Zexion. He spoke intelligently and almost like he'd spent hours pondering over the boy to write down a simple sentence questioning or reporting on some aspect of the boy. Roxas thought it very intriguing and knew Zexion would be very pleased with these writings. He doubted he'd ever bring them up, seeing as how he was invading Demyx's privacy. At the same time, he supposed he did that all the time with his ability, and he knew better than to go blabbing about others' private thoughts and feelings because of it.

Unfortunately, Roxas' time for reading the journal was cut short when he heard voices in the hallway. His blood ran cold as he realized he'd been too wrapped up in Demyx's journal to hear anyone pulling up the long driveway. He quickly returned to book to its rightful place. For a moment, he considered trying to make it back to Naminé's room, but when the door handle jiggled, he simply dove underneath Demyx's bed and tried to quiet his hard breathing.

"How are you holding up?" Demyx's voice sounded as two pairs of footsteps entered the room.

At first, Roxas thought it would be Zexion, but Roxas quickly realized the other person was Axel when he saw the shoes and pants from under the bed. He gulped quietly, trying to contain his heart, which had jumped into his throat. He wanted so badly to reach out and tell Axel he was okay because he just knew Axel was probably tremendously worried about him.

"Not well," the redhead replied, sounding especially depressed and worried.

The bed shifted as Demyx sat on top of it, and Axel soon followed suit. "Gosh, I'm just so blown away, you know? Do you think it was the whole thing with Larxene that just pushed him over the edge? I just have a hard time believing he'd run away because of that, you know?" Demyx's voice said.

There was a bit of hesitation in Axel's voice when he said, "It could be, I don't know," that Roxas could easily tell the redhead was lying and withholding information. He felt a heavy weight in his stomach and it almost felt like he'd swallowed a missile that could explode at any time. "I'm just really fucking worried. I miss him so much, Demyx, you have no idea."

"Mm. Yeah, if Zexion went missing I'd be really worried too. That would be absolutely awful…"

"What if he got raped or kidnapped or mugged or something? Roxas isn't strong enough to fight off an attacker! He's not even strong enough to fight me off when I'm fucking around with him."

"Axel, you really need to stop worrying yourself like that! He probably just ran away. He took his coat and shoes and scarf, and there were no signs of struggle or anything that led the police to believe he'd been taken, right? So he's probably okay."

"But where could he go? His friends in Destiny Islands said they haven't seen him, and no one in our friend group has seen him, Riku hasn't seen him, either. Where in the world could he have gone?" Axel's voice began to break at the last question, making a lump form in Roxas' throat. He wanted so much to crawl out from under the bed and curl up in Axel's lap and tell him that he was okay.

"I'm sure he's safe somewhere. I know it. Roxas is smart. He wouldn't be gone for this long if he didn't have a viable place to stay. You're gonna make yourself sick with all this worry, you know."

"I can't stop fucking worrying, Demyx! I fucking love him so god damn much and he's just gone!" At this point, Axel's voice had completely broken, and if the stress in his tone was any indicator, Roxas would say he was probably crying. He found tears on his own face as well. "I love him, okay? And I just… why does everyone I love always leave me?"

It was very hard for Roxas to refrain from sobbing out loudly. He knew he would be howling in sorrow if he had the opportunity, but he just lie there under Demyx's bed with tears streaming down his face at his lover's sorrow over his disappearance.

"I don't know. I'm sorry, Ax. But I know he'll be okay and he'll come home. You just have to keep a little hope, okay? Things will work out."

Things went silent after that, aside from the sobs and uneven breathing undoubtedly coming from Axel. Roxas hugged himself desperately and cried himself out as well. The two friends left the room a while later, giving the blond the opportunity to return to Naminé's room. He immediately went under the bed and wished he could just stop existing, and that he'd never existed. He didn't want to kill himself, because he knew that would just hurt everyone more. Instead, he just wished he'd never existed. Sora would've been a happy only child, Larxene wouldn't feel neglected, Naminé wouldn't be heartbroken, Axel wouldn't be crying, his mother wouldn't have anyone to hate, and his father wouldn't have to deal with the knowledge that his son was gay until way later when Sora finally grew the balls to admit to it. Roxas spent the rest of the day sulking there under Naminé's bed, his eyes long since dried out.

Later that same day, Roxas found himself in bed with Naminé, cuddling as they fell asleep. He and the blonde girl had become closer over the course of these few days, and he began to wonder why Larxene would ever want to harm her. She was so cute and sweet that he just couldn't understand why hurting Naminé was worth it in her pursuit to criminalize Roxas.

Naminé had talked with the blond boy and allowed him to vent when she got home. She consoled him and brought him some soup with star-shaped noodles and saltines. All the while, her forehead expressed motherly, caring thoughts that proved to Roxas she was being sincere and honestly just cared that much about his well-being.

So they cuddled together as they fell asleep, and Roxas had to admit Naminé's efforts really paid off. He felt so much more relaxed and less stressed about everything. She just had this uncanny ability to calm him down and, while Roxas didn't really like relying that much on people (especially for emotional support), he felt that he'd really needed it and appreciated that she could provide that support for him.

So they drifted off together in each other's arms.

* * *

><p>In the morning, rather than being awoken by the radio, they were awoken by the angry shouts of Seifer. Before Roxas was even coherent enough to open his eyes all the way, Seifer had lifted the blond up by his shirt and out of Naminé's bed. He then proceeded to scream at the blond boy he was holding up by the collar of one of Demyx's night shirts.<p>

"Seifer, don't hurt him!" Naminé shrieked at her brother as she hastily got out of bed.

At that point, Roxas saw Demyx poke his head into the room, obviously confused and curious as to what was going on. "Roxas!?" Demyx blurted incredulously. He sped into the room and swiftly removed the blond from his brother and swung him around in a passionate hug. "Roxas, I'm so glad you're okay! Seif, why were you attacking him?" he wondered, pausing in his passionate display of affection to stare curiously at his brother.

"He was sleeping with Naminé! He fucking tainted our poor sister!" he accused, glaring furiously at the boy in question.

"I didn't sleep with him!" Naminé swore. "He was just staying here because he had nowhere else to go. I was just taking care of him." She took his hand and freed him from Demyx's grasp, gazing at him with a warm smile.

"Wait, has he been staying here this whole time?" Demyx demanded incredulously. '_Oh god, Axel will be so upset when he finds out he was __**here**__ the whole time! He's gonna blame me and think I knew and he'll hate me, oh fuck._'

"Yes, I've been here the whole time," Roxas responded even though Demyx had been addressing Naminé since he didn't like the way the three siblings were talking about him like he wasn't there. "And I'll tell Axel you didn't know. If you give me a chance to talk to him before you tell him, that is."

At first, Demyx seemed absolutely dumbfounded by Roxas's words, obviously forgetting about his ability. After a moment, though, he seemed to remember and nodded.

"Well, shit, kid, we gotta get you back to your parents. We don't hoard moochers, alright?" Seifer interjected, the little conversation between Roxas and Demyx going over his head. "And I'm already in enough trouble as it is because some fucking rat saw me beating the shit out of you. I won't get into more trouble over you because the cops find out you're here. Get dressed and we're taking you home in five minutes," he instructed the blond boy. "And you two," he looked at Naminé then Demyx, "you're coming with us, so you better be ready to go. We're going straight to school afterward. Demyx, we'll send to get your car delivered to the school."

"Why do we have to go?" the sandy blond complained.

"This is a family affair," Seifer practically hissed. "We took in a runaway. We all have to face Roxas' family honestly and return him. Otherwise it'll just look like we don't respect them. Now get your ass dressed. We leave in five minutes." And with that, Seifer stormed out of the room determinedly.

The three teens remaining stared at each other for a second before Naminé excused herself to her closet and Demyx left the room.

Dread over having to face his parents so soon permeated Roxas' skin via his feet. It slowly built up as he changed back into the clothes he'd originally come to the Almasy household in. It'd built up to his chest by the time he finished, and he felt like his heart had gained five extra pounds on its own.

Still, though, a hint of relief came along with the dread. Finally he could see his friends again and put them at ease. He could see Axel and kiss his face and tell him he loved him, which he really wanted to do since hearing Axel confess that he loved Roxas to Demyx. Honestly, making things right with Axel was his top priority. Even though he could feel his family life would be shit, he knew Axel would always take him back and try to spoil him rotten.

The entire ride to the Strife household was uncomfortable and quiet, leaving Roxas to fester in conflicting thoughts. While Axel came first in his heart, he had to be around his family a lot more often on a regular basis. He wasn't ready to face them yet, he knew it. He couldn't handle the accusations that he was too young or hadn't found the right girl or any accusations his parents could make that would dismiss his true sexuality.

When they arrived at Roxas' house, it was 6:45AM on a Friday. All the cars sat in the driveway, nobody having left yet. He cringed at the thought of facing both parents and Sora. At the back of his mind, he wondered if his father had told anyone what had happened. If he had, then Roxas would have to deal with Sora hating on Axel as well, which he really did not need.

Seifer led the three younger teens to the front door of Roxas' house and knocked. After waiting a few moments, the door opened, revealing a very disheveled-looking Sora with deep bags under his red eyes. Roxas immediately noticed he was standing on his own, no wheelchair in sight.

"Seifer?" Sora mumbled confusedly, rubbing one of his eyes.

"We have something that belongs to you," he responded and then pulled Roxas in front of him by the arm.

Roxas saw a flurry of various emotions pass through Sora's face, the final expression one of pure jubilation. His face brightened about twenty fold and he leapt onto his twin, wrapping his arms around the blond's neck with a joyful squeal.

Luckily, Roxas caught his twin, who decided to just hang from his neck, legs wrapped around his torso.

"Roxas, oh Roxas!" he squealed before he began peppering Roxas' face with kisses.

"Sora, who's at the door?" Tifa's voice sounded from behind the door where Roxas couldn't see.

"Mom! It's Roxas!" he replied before dismounting his brother and leading him inside, their fingers tightly interlocked.

As Roxas was led inside, he saw Tifa sitting on the couch with the news playing on TV. Her jaw hung open when she and the blond looked at each other. "Cloud!" she called up the stairs immediately, "Cloud, get down here _now_!"

And soon, the Strife family was all downstairs and had invited the Almasy family inside for a brief talk.

"Sorry about the trouble, Mr. And Mrs. Strife. Naminé had taken Roxas in without either my or Demyx's knowledge," Seifer apologized to them. "Nam, you should apologize, too."

Naminé nodded in compliance. "Yeah, I'm really sorry to have worried you, but I was just trying to help Roxas out," she explained, sounding very innocent.

"Well, as long as he's back, I suppose there's no harm done," Cloud replied from his position on the couch. "And we," the blond growled, glaring at Roxas, "have some talking to do now. So perhaps you should leave."

Demyx and Seifer were already out the door, but Naminé hung back for a second to kiss Roxas on the cheek and wish him good luck. And then she was gone and he was left to fend for himself.

Sora seemed happy overall, Cloud seemed angry, and Tifa seemed irritated.

Roxas had already braced himself for anger and yelling when the Almasys left, so he most certainly did not expect to find himself trapped in a family hug where Cloud kissed the top of his head and Tifa and Sora kissed his cheeks. The worry seemed to melt away quickly with this show of affection. It quickly returned, however, when the hug ended and both parents called their work and the school to inform them that they wouldn't be showing up to work that day and that Sora was sick and couldn't go to school.

Once that was out of the way, Roxas sat in the lounge chair next to the couch the rest of his family was on. He tried his best not to fiddle with his clothing as he listened, but he couldn't really help it.

"Roxas Strife, do you have _any_ idea what you put us through?" Cloud began, his voice cold and lethal.

The glare on his father's face intimidated the boy so much that he couldn't look him in the face at all. He just shook his head and stared down at his lap.

"We called the school, the police, all your friends, and we were all looking for you. Do you know how _worried_ we were about you? You can't just walk out like that, Roxas!" he lectured.

A bit of anger sparked in Roxas at that. He returned his father's glare, which seemed to surprise his father the barest amount. "You mean like how you walked out on me minutes before I left?" he mumbled.

"Excuse me?" Cloud demanded.

Instead of responding, Roxas just shook his head and glared down at the arm of the couch. Already, he didn't expect his father would understand. His mother wouldn't either. He could tell deep inside that they wouldn't accept him being gay as easily as his friends' parents had.

Cloud gave an angry sigh, but said nothing else. Tifa intervened and demanded, "Why would you run away like that, Roxas? We've done everything we possibly can for both you and Sora. Why would you just leave all of our hard work behind? Why would you worry us like that?"

"So you didn't tell them what happened?" the blond asked his father with a humorless chuckle. When he saw his father hadn't, evidenced by the thoughts on his forehead and the frown on his face, he turned his attention back to his mother. "Because. I'm gay," he answered his mother's question.

Immediately, her face went still with an angry expression of confusion. Cloud scowled at his son. Sora's eyes widened immensely and he sat up straighter in the couch, looking between his parents and Roxas.

"Roxas, you're not gay," Tifa assured him.

"You can't be gay," Cloud agreed with his wife.

"And why not?" the teen wondered, his anger filling his veins like lava. He'd known they'd do this to him. How could his parents be so predictably horrible?

Cloud and Tifa looked at each other for a moment. "Well, you've had girlfriends before. And you were going after Naminé, right?"

"No!" he shouted. "I never went after Naminé! And I only dated those girls to try to pretend I was straight! I am _not_ straight. I _don't like girls_."

"You're too young to know that, Roxas! You're just going through a phase. It'll pass. Lots of people go through a phase dabbling in homosexuality," Cloud argued. "You're straight, Roxas. I know it."

Sora burst up out of his seat at that point and stood before his parents. "Why are you guys being so horrible to Roxas?" he yelled. "What does it matter if he's gay? So what if he is? I'm gay, too! Roxas and I are both gay. And we _know_ it's not a phase. Why would Roxas not know if he likes girls or boys? He's dated two girls already and he wasn't attracted to them! He probably just dated them because he knew it would make you happy!" He stamped his foot before he sat in his twin's lap on the lounge chair.

Their parents went silent for a lone while, and everything was eerily quiet as they absorbed this information. They took one look at each other before Tifa screamed, "Sora, you can't be gay, either! I know you're just trying to support your brother! You don't have to do that, alright? You don't have to back Roxas up just because he looks pathetic. And get out of his lap! This is just…" she angrily paused to search for the right words, "it's just not appropriate timing for that, okay?"

"I'm _not_ just supporting Roxas! Even if I was straight, which I'm not, I wouldn't have to pretend to be gay to back him up!" Sora retorted. "I'm gay and I have a wonderful boyfriend."

"Boyfriend?" Roxas eyed Sora questioningly. "When did this happen?"

Sora's anger crumbled away from his face and he grinned at his twin. "Yeah, yesterday Riku finally asked me out! He lost this swimming competition to Demyx and had to announce who he had a crush on over the intercom and it was great! But then he got detention for like a week for breaking into the office to use the intercom without permission."

"Wow, congratulations, I guess," Roxas said with a smile. A small rush of relief ran through him when he realized this meant Riku either didn't have cancer or he'd already taken care of it. "It's not like you've been waiting forever for him to ask you out or anything."

Sora blushed, giggled, and nodded.

Meanwhile, their parents just openly stared at the two of them. "You two, you can't really be gay… It's just a phase…" Tifa muttered quietly to herself, her anger gone. Her energy seemed to have disappeared, leaving her silent and sad.

"So, you lied to me about telling Axel you weren't interested in him? And you're actually attracted to him? And you're… dating?" Cloud wondered, sounding hurt and upset.

The twins turned back to their parents, but Sora kept an eye on his brother, curious. "Yes, I'm dating Axel. And I've been dating him since just after Halloween. We've been dating for three months now."

"Roxas and Sora Strife, the both of you are _grounded_ for the next month!" Tifa growled at them, her anger rekindling. "Roxas, you for lying to your father and going around behind our backs, and Sora, you for not telling us and letting us believe that you and Riku were really just friends. Axel and Riku are no longer welcome in this house, and we forbid you from seeing them outside of school. You've also lost your car privileges and must clean the house once a week every week."

"Fuck this shit," Roxas growled, getting up hastily, causing Sora to wobble over and fall to the floor on his ass. "I'll just leave again. I don't need this."

Sora shot up from the floor and grabbed Roxas by the wrist, refusing to let him walk away. "Mom, Dad, I hope you see what you're doing. You're not punishing us for lying to you or because we were hiding things from you. You're punishing us because you're afraid that we're actually gay and think you can scare and punish us to encourage us to be straight. And that's really messed up. Now, I'm not like Roxas. I'll probably stick around no matter what, even if you two started beating me. Because I love and rely on you too much to ever leave. But Roxas, he doesn't have that sort of attachment. And he's smart, so he can easily figure out how he can survive. Punishing us won't do any good. You'll just drive Roxas away and make my life a living hell. And if you think you can keep Roxas from running away, then you're really, really wrong. Nothing you could do, short of using handcuffs and chains, would keep Roxas somewhere he doesn't want to be," he told his parents, gripping Roxas' wrist firmly.

Everything stayed still for a few moments. Roxas mentally praised his brother. Even though he wasn't very book smart, and even if he chose to say the wrong things at the wrong times in some cases, he knew their situation very well. Plus, Sora had always been very good at articulating whatever was on his mind.

"Look, we have to notify the police we found you, Roxas. Please don't leave again. Please." Cloud sent Roxas a pleading look. '_I can't handle losing my baby boy again. I just fucking can't…_'

Roxas gave a deep sigh, but turned back to face his parents. He removed his wrist from Sora's grip and offered to hold hands instead, which the brunet eagerly agreed to. They sat together on the lounge chair, squished together, but glad they had each other.

While Cloud called the police, Tifa just sat there silently, deeply thinking over everything. She seemed confused and not knowing what to do. Her forehead expressed this confusion as well as some thoughts that said she just knew her two sons being gay was wrong. She still seemed in a fog by the time Cloud hung up the phone.

"Boys, why don't you go to your room? We just all need some time to think about this, okay? Later, we'll need to go to the high school to figure out how they'll handle your absences and what they're going to do about the schoolwork you missed, Roxas. We'll all sit down and talk about this later, okay?" he suggested.

Roxas and Sora glanced at each other before nodding and retreating to their room. When they got there, Sora immediately went over to lie on their bed and beckoned for Roxas to join him, which he did after locking their bedroom door. They curled up together in their typical 'bro-cuddle' fashion, foreheads pressed together and legs interlocked.

"Roxas, I was really worried about you, you know," Sora murmured to his twin, an expression of hurt glazing his eyes over.

"I know, Sora. You look like shit." Roxas grinned at his twin, who grinned back. "And you're walking again now? Did you really finish with physical therapy?" he questioned, finding it hard to believe two sessions' worth of physical therapy could rehabilitate Sora's legs.

Sora grinned and shook his head. "No, I should still be in a wheelchair, and my legs actually still hurt, but you know me. I'm just so done with sitting all day. Besides, the pain isn't that bad, I can work through it. More importantly, are you really dating Axel?" he wondered.

Immediately, Roxas got on the defensive. "Yes, and you better fucking accept it. I know you don't like him, but he's really not as bad as you make him sound. And I really, really, _really_ like him a lot. And I might accidentally sort of love him. So if you think you can just badmouth him without any form of retribution from me, you're gravely mistaken."

"But he's dangerous, Roxas! What if he takes advantage—"

Before Sora could even finish his sentence, Roxas flicked his twin in the nose, saying, "No. Bad. Stop it."

Sora pulled away indignantly and sneezed, spraying the blond with a decent amount of saliva.

"Ugh, gross!" Roxas cried out, pulling away from his brother to wipe at his face.

In response, Sora just giggled and laughed at his twin's dilemma. "See? Axel is bad news bears."

Roxas glared at his brother before they came back together for their bro-cuddling. "No." He sighed a moment before continuing on. "I know you don't like him, but I just… I just really love him. When I was stowing away Demyx and Naminé's house, I ended up hiding under Demyx's bed at some point because Demyx came home and he was with Axel. They sat down on the bed and then started talking about me and Axel was so worried and he started crying and I couldn't keep myself from crying and now I just want to tell him I'm okay so badly. It's like if you heard Riku crying over you because he thought you were dead, but you couldn't tell him you were okay because your mouth was sewn shut or something. It was terrible," he admitted.

Sora nodded understandingly. "I still don't like him, Roxas, but since you insist that he's a good guy and since you say you love him, I guess I could give him a try. Plus, Zexion called me once while you were gone to ask if we'd made any progress in tracking you down and he called me a little shit and started yelling at me for blaming everything on Axel. If even Zexion tells me he's not so bad, then maybe he isn't. I don't know. I just don't like him, I guess."

Roxas couldn't keep himself from positively beaming at his brother. He would never have guessed that Sora would be willing to give Axel a second chance. It really meant a lot to the blond, more than he could've expressed.

* * *

><p>Later that same day, the Strifes found themselves sitting together in front of Mr. Diskin's desk. When Cloud had called ahead to let the school know that they'd located Roxas and that he would be returning to school the following Monday, Mr. Diskin ordered that they come in as a family to discuss everything. They complied, not really seeing any reason not to.<p>

Sora and Roxas hadn't stopped holding hands once since their cuddling had been interrupted. It felt extremely good to know he had his twin on his side, even though it made sense since the brunet was also fighting for himself in this situation. It was nice of him to come out to their parents as well, though. That made things two times easier on Roxas.

Mr. Diskin cleared his throat after he took a swig of the coffee on his desk. He had various papers piled neatly on the desk, ready for him to refer to. He eyed the Strife family carefully before beginning, "Well, firstly, I just want to express my relief that Roxas has been found. Children who run away aren't always located and returned to their families, and I've seen too many households destroyed by children running away from home. Once a child runs away, they're more likely to run away again."

"Now, as far as the work Roxas missed, he'll have to discuss that with his teachers separately, although I have been asked to pass these along to him," the silverette handed the blond some of the papers from his desk, "which are study guides for his finals, which he will still have to take a week from now. So you'll have to take care of the rest separately, Roxas."

"So why did you call us all in here?" Cloud wondered.

"Well, there is a bigger issue here. Roxas isn't the kind of person to run from his problems. I can only assume something extremely unpleasant is going on at home that would drive him to do such a thing. He won't receive any sort of punishment from the schooling system; he'll just have to make up any work his teachers ask of him. Aside from that, I want the four of you to visit the school psychologist to try to resolve any issues you may have with each other. If you cannot resolve everything there, I will require you to attend family counseling outside of school."

"You'll 'require' us to go? And what makes you think we'll comply?" Tifa questioned coldly.

Mr. Diskin gave her a hardened look. "You will comply or else I will contact social services and have them monitor your family life to determine whether your home is a safe environment for both Sora and Roxas. I'm sure you want to avoid that kind of mess, so I recommend compliance."

"Look, _Mr. Dickskin_," Tifa hissed, purposely butchering his name, "you don't understand what's going on. Both of my sons told us they're gay. Do you know how much of a _problem_ that is?"

Mr. Diskin glared openly at the brunette woman. "You're speaking to a gay man," he responded, choosing to ignore the butchering of his name. "And I highly suggest you comply without a fight. Things will be much easier for you that way."

"And why are you so interested in helping us, hmm? Is it _because_ you're gay? You like helping out little boys? Is that it?" the brunette woman accused.

"Are you suggesting that because I'm gay, I'm also a pedophile?" Mr. Diskin looked on the verge of losing it, his fingers clenched together tightly, as if to restrain himself from doing anything he'd regret. He was so angry his forehead was completely blank. "I couldn't possibly be concerned about two of my students' well-being after one of them _runs away from home_ just because I care about my students? It's impossible for me to want to make the high school experience at least bearable for the kids who just want to get out of here? Let me tell you something, _Mrs. Strife_, I realize that most of what the students learn here as part of the curriculum is _useless_. I got into the educational system knowing that because even though the material used for tests and grades will probably never be used in life, I wanted to help teach kids about life. When I'm presented an opportunity like this to teach students something important that will actually affect their lives, do you think I'm simply going to sit idly by and let them suffer without at least trying to give them the tools to deal with situations like this?" he demanded. He took a deep breath, calming himself down enough that his thoughts became coherent and visible again. "If you continue to bicker with me, I will not give you the chance to avoid family counseling. I will simply contact social services."

Cloud and Tifa looked at each other worriedly for a moment, both wondering if it was even possible for him to do such a thing. "Then, I suppose we have no choice," Cloud eventually said, clearly not wanting to test him to see if he was bluffing.

"Good. The school psychologist will see you now. Mr. Thornton will lead you there," he informed them before calling for Mr. Thornton.

The blue-haired vice principal opened the door and gestured for the Strifes to follow him. He led them to a door that said 'School Psychologist Philip White' engraved on a hanging plaque. He knocked and told them to go in a few seconds later upon hearing words of encouragement come from the room.

Tifa entered the room first, followed by everyone else. The psychologist's desk was pushed against the far wall, and the man himself was sitting in a small circle of chairs away from the desk. The Strifes took the remaining seats and gazed curiously at the rest of the office as Mr. White sat there, prepared for the session to begin. Various books filled the shelves hanging from the walls and there were two pots of fake orchids on the desk and an end table in front of a window that had a good view of the parking lot, street, and neighborhood right across from the high school.

"Good afternoon, Strife family! How are you all doing today?" asked the school psychologist. He gestured for them to take a seat in the circle of chairs.

From that point on, the rest of the session went to shit. The more time they spent in there, the worse it all got. They talked nicely enough all together at first, but once they really started getting into the issues with their home life, things just exploded. Roxas and Tifa ended up screaming at each other, Sora ended up in tears, and Cloud was just shamed and stunned into silence. Mr. White ended up writing them the recommendation for a real family counselor about 30 minutes after they'd started, stopping the session way earlier than it was supposed to end because Roxas and Tifa honestly looked like they would start physically fighting at any moment.

The ride home was eerily silent, and everyone felt emotionally drained. When they got home, however, Roxas wasn't yet ready to call it a day and hide out in his room the rest of the time. He still needed to talk to Axel and let him know everything was okay. He knew leaving the house without asking permission or telling anyone would probably be the worst thing he could do at that point, so he managed to corner his father and ask him alone without Tifa or Sora hearing.

"I don't know, Roxas. I'm really uncomfortable with the idea of you being in a relationship with him. I don't really want you to see him right now," Cloud rejected the idea.

"But Dad, think of it from his perspective! After you took off, I was really unstable and asked Axel to leave and he's been really worried the entire time, I know it. Please, can I just go tell him I'm okay? Please?" he begged his father, about ready to get on his knees and beg.

"Can't you just text him?" the older blond suggested exasperatedly.

Roxas shook his head emphatically. "Dad, come on, you have to understand! Please? Just give me an hour?" he pleaded, trying to look as cute and pitiful as possible. He even stuck out his lower lip in a pout.

Cloud let out an uncertain sigh before running a hand through his hair. "Fine, I'll let you go. But you only get 45 minutes, alright? If you're not back here before then, I'll take your phone and keys away. Not even Sora will be able to drive if you don't get back here on time, got it?"

Excitement filled Roxas and he nodded hastily. "Yes, yes, I got it! Thanks so much, Dad!" The blond grabbed his father's hand and shook it roughly in an attempt to show his gratitude. Then he raced into the kitchen to retrieve the car keys, texting Axel, telling him he was coming over and would be there in around 10 minutes. He just hoped Axel would be there, seeing as it was around 5 o'clock by that point, and the redhead could easily be at work. He hadn't texted anyone since he'd gotten home at all, so this was the first time he'd contacted anyone. When he got to his car, Axel had already responded, telling him he'd be there.

Giddy, Roxas sped to the redhead's apartment complex at a constant 10mph over the speed limit in any given area. He couldn't help it though, he was just so enthused to speak to his boyfriend again. He parked too crookedly to be legal in the guest parking lot in front of the apartment complex before practically racing up the steps to Axel's floor, having no patience for the elevator.

When he knocked on the door, Roxas found himself short of breath and freezing, since he'd forgotten to bring a jacket with him, but when Axel opened the door, that made it all worth it. Their arms were immediately around each other as they stumbled back into the apartment together. They held each other in bone-crushing embraces before Axel pulled away so he could cup Roxas' cheeks and kiss him on the forehead, nose, and mouth.

"Roxas, fuck, oh god, I was so worried about you!" Axel blabbered.

"I know, I'm sorry, I'm really sorry I worried you! I didn't mean to," Roxas responded, fighting back tears as he threaded his fingers through Axel's red mane. Axel's scent overwhelmed him and he went so weak at the knees he almost collapsed against the redhead. Luckily, he managed to maintain enough control over his body to remain upright.

Abruptly, a pair of strong arms separated the couple. Reno stood there between the two, guarding Axel. He pointed to the door. "Leave now," he ordered Roxas, a hateful glare on his face.

"Huh?" the blond responded, confused.

"I told you if you ever hurt Axel I'd kill you. Well, if you're not out that door within the next five seconds, your insides will become your outsides. Now get the fuck out of my house."

"Reno, stop it! I want him here!" Axel pushed his father aside. "You're not my keeper, okay? You're my dad. And while I appreciate you trying to protect me and everything, I can handle myself. Now, we're gonna be in my room fooling around, so either plug your ears or get lost," he snapped as he grabbed Roxas' hand and began dragging him off to his room.

Roxas liked this forceful side of Axel, and the very mention of them dicking around together planted a seed of excitement and anticipation within the smaller boy. He couldn't wait to have his boyfriend's hands and mouth on him again. Roxas found himself roughly pushed down onto the bed while Axel closed and locked the door behind him. Roxas made sure to adjust his clothes to look as appealing as possible in that short period of time, pulling his shirt up a bit, unzipping his jeans halfway, and messing his hair up with his hand. Even this minimal work seemed to pay off, because Axel ended up licking his lips before diving at the blond and capturing him with an intimate kiss.

Overwhelmed with passion, Roxas couldn't help but claw at Axel's neck and back in an attempted to be closer to the redhead, even though it wasn't physically possible. He whimpered and pulled back when Axel bit his tongue, earning a quick apology from his boyfriend. That was quickly forgotten however as their hands began roaming each other's bodies, feeling each other up intensely and insatiably.

They moaned and grunted and whimpered together, especially when they began rocking against each other. Neither could tell who'd started it, but suddenly, their clothed erections were rubbing together in a rather delicious and delirium-inducing manner. Roxas felt his face grow how when he realized Axel had his eyes open and was watching him closely. Their gazes locked, and they just stared at each other as they groped and grinded.

Soon enough, Axel was getting ready to go in for the kill and just make them cum. He closed his eyes once more to reattach their mouths and reunite their tongues.

Somehow, even through the utter intoxication of his hormones and waves of pleasure, Roxas managed to remember his original purpose in coming to see his boyfriend. "Wait, Axel," Roxas panted after pulling away and stopping the redhead with all his might, tugging on his red hair to force Axel's face into his line of sight.

"Yes, Rox?" the redhead replied, gazing into his blue eyes intently.

"I just wanted to tell you something," the blond murmured. He felt his face grow hot and he bit his lip as he forced the words to come up to his throat. "I just wanted to tell you," he gazed back into his partner's eyes, ignoring their beauty so he could get his point across, "I love you."

Axel just kind of stared silently at the blond for a few seconds, forehead completely blank. It put Roxas on edge for a moment before the redhead attacked his throat with intense vigor, biting and sucking harder than the blond was used to, making him whimper and gasp.

"A-axel, you're going to l-leave m-m-marks…" Roxas reminded him, pleasure making it hard for him to talk without stuttering.

Wordlessly, Axel heeded Roxas' implied warning and turned his attention to the younger boy's face. He kissed him all over and grinded against the boy's crotch. He continued humping against his boyfriend until they both climaxed with their clothes completely on, both moaning out some form of the others' name.

"Ah, fuck," Roxas groaned as he rode out his orgasm.

"Roxas, god, ah," Axel practically whimpered. He bumped their noses together as he stared into Roxas' eyes happily. "I love you, too," he murmured.

They just sat there looking at each other with goofy smiles on their faces, nuzzling at each other playfully for a while. After a few minutes, fatigue started to overtake them, which signaled Roxas that it was probably time to get going, as much as he didn't want to.

"Fuck, I can't believe we jizzed in our pants," Roxas grumbled when he moved and realized he had a sticky mess between his legs and on his thigh, his spunk absorbed into his boxers a bit so that it was dragging over his skin uncomfortably.

Axel laughed at that. "Yeah, we're fucking lame. We don't see each other for three days, and then when we do see each other and start to fool around, neither of us lasts longer than five minutes. Here, you stay and I'll get something to help clean the both of us a bit." The redhead extricated himself from their tangle of limbs to leave the room, stretching and yawning as he went.

Roxas removed his pants and checked his boxers to see how bad it was. While it wasn't too horrible, he did grumble about it to himself. He was just glad when Axel returned with a couple of warm, damp towels. The blond gratefully took one and removed his boxers so he could wipe himself and the underwear up. Once finished, he slipped his underwear and pants back on.

"So you're dad knows your gay? Or what's the story on that?" Axel wondered as he finished cleaning himself up before opting to just change into his pajamas, even though it was only 5:30-ish.

Exhausted, Roxas just shook his head. "I don't really wanna talk about that right now. I've already had to deal with that shit almost all day. I'm just so done with it. My fucking parents tried to forbid Sora and I from seeing you and Riku and, fuck, it's just ugh," he groaned in irritation. "Yeah, let's just talk about that later. Preferably some time when we can just cuddle up and chat." The blond pulled out his phone to check the time, finding that he had to leave within the next five minutes or else he'd be late. "Anyway, Ax, I gotta go."

"Alright, I'll walk you out, okay cutie? I'm honestly a little worried Reno will chase you out with a butcher knife." The two made their way towards the front door, hand in hand, before Reno called to them from the kitchen.

"Axel, Roxas, I called Cloud and we both agreed it'd be best if you two didn't hang around each other anymore. Now, Roxas, get out. Axel, you stay," he growled at them.

"Fuck off, _dad_," Axel barked angrily at his father before continuing to escort his beloved outside.

Roxas looked up at the redhead worriedly, not wanting to have to see Axel less than he already expected he'd be able to.

Catching onto the worry emanating from his boyfriend, Axel tightened his grip on the younger boy's hand. "Don't worry, Rox, we'll figure this out. Things just suck right now. They'll get better, though. It'll just take some time, alright?" he assured him as they entered the elevator.

Unconvinced, but not wanting to be negative, Roxas just nodded. Gently, Axel brushed a stray hair out of Roxas' face and back to where it belonged, making the blond blush and swat his hands away. "You're fucking embarrassing," he grumbled.

Axel just chuckled.

* * *

><p>Dinner, after all that had happened that day was quite welcome, though it was a little quieter than normal because everybody seemed too absorbed with their own thoughts. It was definitely better than it had been earlier at the school psychologist's office when Roxas and Tifa had been screaming at each other.<p>

Sora did still try to make some conversation, though. He didn't seem as fazed by everything as everyone else was. Although, Roxas did come in a close second and had a goofy grin on his face. He couldn't stop thinking of how he and Axel had exchanged 'I love you's directly for the first time.

"So how was it at Demyx's house?" the brunet wondered, pulling the blond out of his thoughts.

"It was absolutely incredible. They have such a nice house! I basically stayed in Naminé's room whenever someone was home. But I mean, when I wasn't hiding, I lived like an Almasy. Their entire house is huge and great and their fridge was always full of food. All their TVs are giant and the bathrooms are big, clean, and nice," Roxas explained.

"Yeah, Riku's house is like that. But I've never stayed there for longer than a couple days. Plus, his mom really likes me and she's really attentive and it's basically like having a personal maid," Sora responded.

"So how were things at school while I was away?" the blond wondered.

Sora shrugged. "I think your friends have been the same as always. Well actually, I've noticed Larxene has been staying away lately. I see her talking on her phone all the time now. I think she's avoiding everyone."

Roxas nodded. "Yeah, she is. That's been going on since before I left, though. She did something really dumb. I'm kind of surprised Riku hasn't told you about it. I'd have expected Zexion to have told him already."

Sora tilted his head curiously. "What happened?" '_It __**is**__ weird that Zexion wouldn't have told Riku, and even weirder that if he had, he didn't tell me about it._'

"Basically, Larxene convinced Naminé to do something that Marluxia tried to talk her out of doing and then she did it and they got into a fight and everyone basically hates her now but I think she's too proud to apologize," he explained to his twin. He eyed his parents for a moment, wondering how they'd react if they knew this had all been caused by Naminé trying to sleep with him.

"Really? What did she convince Naminé to do? It's kind of weird that Marluxia and Larxene would fight like that. Riku told me they've been best friends since elementary school."

Roxas took a moment to think about whether or not he should tell them what had actually happened. Sora wouldn't spread something like that and it certainly would be a chance to prove that he really was gay to his parents. At the same time, he didn't want to tell them behind Naminé's back and he was kind of tired of explaining the whole story. In the end he decided to just spill the beans.

"Larxene convinced Naminé to try to have sex with me even though Marluxia told her it was a bad idea." Roxas noticed with pleasure that his parents were now paying attention to him. So on New Year's Eve, when I went to Marluxia's car, she started climbing all over me and stuff, but I turned her down."

"Really?!" Sora asked incredulously. "That doesn't really sound like Naminé…"

Roxas laughed at that. "Yeah, no, Naminé is definitely not a virgin. She's been around the block quite a few times. She climbed all over me, pressing her boobs up against me and stuff and she was all, 'Fuck me, Roxas!' but it just made me really uncomfortable, especially since I'm dating Axel, so I told her I wasn't interested. But anyway, that's not the end. After that, Naminé wasn't mad at me for rejecting her, she was just really sad. Larxene wanted to get Naminé to hate me because she really hates me because apparently I've been a better friend to Marluxia than her lately and she was demonizing me so they'd see I was bad news or something. So when her plan to get Naminé to hate me failed, she told Seifer I was trying to get into Naminé's pants and he beat me up that one day."

"Seifer was the one who attacked you?" Cloud asked dubiously.

"I already told the principal about it, so he's already in trouble. Anyway, the weekend after he beat me up, Marluxia and Larxene finally had this huge argument in front of everyone and Larxene admitted that she was basically the cause of everything. So everyone got mad at her and she's been avoiding everyone ever since. It's kind of weird that she's still avoiding everyone, though. I thought she was just avoiding me, or that she and Marluxia would've made up by now, but I guess I was wrong."

Sora nodded as he took in the information. "You know," he said, "you should tell Hayner about what Seifer did. Seifer likes him, right?"

"Yeah, he likes Hayner," Roxas scoffed, "but telling Hayner wouldn't do anything. What could Hayner possibly do? And the only reason Seifer stopped pounding me to the ground was because I threatened to tell Hayner. He said if I told him about it, he'd destroy me."

"Wait, Seifer likes Hayner? Have they ever even met?" Tifa wondered. "And both Hayner and Seifer are also gay?" She seemed absolutely blown away, a completely nonplussed expression on her face. '_Are all the people who surround my sons gay?_'

Roxas and Sora looked at each other with matching grins on their faces. Then, Roxas looked back at his mother. "They met over the phone and I think they might be in a long distance relationship. I couldn't tell you if Seifer's gay or bisexual or whatever, but Hayner's definitely gay."

"Yeah, Hayner and I used to have this huge mutual crush on each other when we lived back on the islands, but we never really did anything about it. I think it was more like we both thought each other was hot but I don't think we really had romantic feelings for each other," the brunet twin confessed.

Roxas and Sora continued chatting, but their parents mostly stayed quiet, which wasn't abnormal, but the blond could tell they were in much deeper thought than usual. The twins retreated to their rooms after dinner, wondering whether or not they were actually grounded or could go out that weekend.

At that point, Roxas began the task of responding to the worried calls and texts he'd received in his absence. Surprisingly, even Larxene sent him a couple texts. She seemed to believe that his running away was her fault and she was apologizing. Roxas couldn't help but smile at that. Maybe she didn't hate him as much as he thought. Zexion immediately responded to his text, calling him a flurry of inappropriate things. He demanded that they hang out the following day, to which the blond replied with a maybe and then vaguely explained that things weren't the best in the Strife household at the moment.

Many other people responded to his text, and he found himself on the end of a lot of anger and outrage, which Roxas felt equally good and bad about. It only served to stress him more, so he simply decided to stop texting everyone.

"Hey, Roxas, I have a question," Sora murmured, interrupting his thoughts as the blond lie there with his phone sitting on his stomach. Both twins occupied the lower bunk, Sora cuddling into the blond's side.

"Hmm?"

"Um, well, how far have you gone? Like, with Axel?" the brunet asked, eyeing his twin curiously. Quickly, he added, "Oh, and I'm not asking because I'll get mad and judge you! I'm asking because I've never been in a relationship before, so I'm just wondering how it's supposed to go, because you know, I'd never even kissed anyone before New Year's and I'm really inexperienced and Riku's so much more experienced than I am and I don't want to disappoint him, so I figure you're a good source of information because I think you have more experience, right?" he babbled.

Roxas just stared at his twin for a second, not sure whether to still be offended or to actually tell his brother about his sexual ventures with Axel. He didn't really want to talk to Sora about his sexual history, but he could see where his brother was coming from. "Well, Riku knows you're a super virgin and he already told me he gets that you're not really ready for sexual stuff, so just try to go with a pace that feels comfortable for you. I mean, that's what I've done in all my relationships, and no one so far has been disappointed with that. Then again, I've never been in a relationship with someone like Riku who's had a _lot_ of sex."

"I don't know, I kind of think Riku's a dick if he tries to pressure you into going further than you're comfortable with, so I don't think you should be worried about disappointing him. Just go with the flow. If you're comfortable with putting his dick in your mouth, then go ahead. Just don't let him make you feel guilty if you tell him you're not ready to do that kind of thing yet. If he pressures you and won't stop, just dump him," he advised his brother. "Like, Axel respects that we're going pretty slow in our relationship. We've been dating for three months, but he's never pressured me to do anything. If anything, I've been pressuring him. He said he likes going slow. Go figure."

Sora nodded thoughtfully. "I kind of find it hard to believe that Axel likes going slow," he murmured, narrowing his eyes.

"Well, I asked him if we were going too slowly for him, but he said no. He said he preferred it because he's kind of had a bad past with dating and sex. So yeah, he's not as much of a fiend as you think. He's really sweet."

A while later, Tifa and Cloud entered their room to tell them good night. They informed them that they weren't in trouble, but would prefer it if Roxas stayed close to home, since he'd been gone for so long. Overall, their demeanors seemed somber and unsure and exhausted. They remained curt with their sentences and then left them shortly after arriving.

Sora had informed Roxas that he'd be reclaiming the top bunk since his legs were better, but they still slept cuddled together on the bottom bunk that night. Roxas could tell Sora was using this as a means to catch up on the time they'd missed spending together as a result of him running away, and accepted without resistance.

* * *

><p>The entire weekend seemed to go by slowly. None of the Strife family members really talked to each other much. Luckily, Zexion insisted on spending the entire weekend with Roxas, which made the weekend much more bearable. The bluenette clung to his best friend and refused to let go mostly the entire weekend. Bathroom breaks and meals were the blond's only reprieve. He didn't mind, though. Honestly, he thought it was touching and cute.<p>

Since Tifa and Cloud had opted to keep their distance that weekend, there wasn't much issue with Zexion's newfound clinginess. This gave Roxas and Zexion the freedom to cuddle without being made uncomfortable by the blond's parents. Sora used the weekend as an opportunity to go hang out with Riku, despite their parents' wishes.

Seeing as Roxas had already told Naminé, his parents, and Sora about his and Axel's relationship, he decided he should probably tell Zexion as well, so that it didn't seem like he was holding out on the bluenette, which he would definitely perceive as a personal attack. Of course, Zexion had asked Roxas about why he ran away almost immediately after he first came over, but the blond just said he didn't want to talk about it at the moment. He decided to finally divulge that information to Zexion as they lie together in the bottom bunk on Saturday night, settling down for rest.

"Zexion, you're still awake, right?" the blond asked lowly after they'd been lying together in the dark for about ten minutes. He turned to face his blue-haired friend, finding that the boy was gazing at him, clearly awake.

"No, I'm asleep," the bookworm replied, flashing a smirk at the other boy.

"I _was_ asleep!" Sora chimed in from the top bunk.

Roxas grinned and chuckled. "Shut up, Sora, I'm telling Zexion about everything. And I seriously doubt you were sleeping. I can see the light from your phone on the ceiling, dumbass! I know you're probably sexting Riku right now!"

"You can't see, but I'm mentally sticking my tongue out at you. You're just jealous!" the brunet accused.

The blond twin rolled his eyes. "Whatever. Anyway Zexion, the reason I ran away isn't because of everything that happened with Naminé and Larxene. It's because I," Roxas paused as he wondered what the best way to explain what had happened could be. "Well," he stumbled as he attempted to think of something to say. "I know I haven't told you this, but I'm telling you now because I guess it's time you found out. And I didn't tell you earlier because Sora didn't know about it, either, and nobody else did either, except for Riku, because he's fucking crazy perceptive, and I made Axel promise he couldn't tell anyone, so I thought I should also honor that promise. Anyway, I've been dating Axel for, like, three months now, okay?"

Zexion looked quizzically at his companion, hurt creasing his brow. "So when I asked a while ago if you were interested in Axel, you were lying to me? And whenever I brought up the fact that Axel is single and you expressed disgust toward the idea of dating him, you were also lying then too?"

"Zexion!" Roxas raised his voice, quickly grabbing the bluenette by the face with both hands. He stared into his friend's eye intently. He hissed at his friend in a whisper he hoped was too quiet for Sora to make out, "Look, I'm telling you now. I couldn't tell you earlier. I would have if I felt comfortable. You have to understand that I know a lot of secrets that I shouldn't and that I keep secrets from you. It's hard to understand what it's like to know all these things that could potentially ruin people's lives. But, since I've lived with that all my life, I know the value of a secret. Now, I've respected all of your secrets, even the ones you haven't told me about, so now I'm asking you respect mine and my reason for keeping it from you, alright? You _can't_ take personal offense to it."

Guilt tinged Zexion's expression and he nodded in understanding. "I suppose you're right. Sorry. Please go on."

"So, like I said, I've been dating Axel for a while. The day I ran away, we were making out in the living room because no one was supposed to be home before like 6, but my dad came back early for some reason, and walked in on us. Now, my dad had no idea I was even gay, and he'd been really worried about me leading Axel on the entire time because fucking _Sora_," Roxas kicked at the wooden slabs that suspended the second bunk in the air, causing it to bounce and Sora to gasp in surprise, "told him Axel had a thing for me. So when he walked in, he fucking bolted. I got really scared and told Axel to go home. And then I went to Demyx and Naminé's house, and Naminé let me stay in her room."

"You were staying there the entire time?" he questioned, his face suddenly growing red. "The _entire_ time?"

Roxas also blushed when he realized that Zexion was talking about when he and Demyx had sex that one day. He nodded. "Yeah. I heard you and Demyx going at it. It was pretty hot."

"Fuck off! Fuck you! Fuck!" the bookworm swore, smacking the blond in the chest, knocking him off the bed. Roxas swore he heard a snicker from Sora's general direction. Zexion then hid his face behind his hands, red to his roots as Roxas climbed back under the sheets. "You're a sick fuck, Roxas."

Before he even gave Roxas the chance to respond, he continued talking. "Anyway, so you're dating Axel and your dad found out, so you ran away. And how are your parents feeling about it now?"

"Oh, they're not okay with it," Roxas replied, not exactly knowing what could describe it best, thus settling for 'not okay.' "I don't know exactly how they're feeling about it, but they're being really resistant to the idea that me and Sora are gay. They kind of just plugged their ears and started going 'la la la, we can't hear you!' And now we have to go to family counseling because we failed a practice round of counseling. Xemnas demanded it. Otherwise, he said he would call social services to see if it was safe for me and Sora to live with our parents."

"Family counseling? Are things really that bad?" Worry plagued Zexion's voice.

"Yeah, but they're not that bad just because of this. There's other shit, too, I think this was just the last proverbial straw," he answered. "Our first counseling session is on Thursday, and then after that, we'll have counseling every Monday and Thursday until everything is resolved. I'm just really not looking forward to any of that."

Zexion nodded sympathetically.

* * *

><p>On Sunday, an amazing thing happened; Larxene came to the Strife household to apologize.<p>

Roxas and Zexion had been lazing around on the couch in front of the TV when knocking sounded from the door. Curious, Roxas went to answer the door after shaking Zexion free of his torso, finding none other than Larxene standing there with a frustrated look on her face. However, this kind of frustrated appeared to stem more from guilt and stress than from irritation. He invited her inside warily. Her thoughts appeared fairly collected and standard, expressing complaints about every little thing, but that was not out of the ordinary.

Trying to be hospitable, he invited her into the kitchen for something to drink, but she turned him down.

As they entered the living room from the entranceway, she scoffed. "I didn't know the emo bitch would be here," the blonde grumbled under her breath. "Look, Roxas," she turned to face the younger teen, "I just want to make this short, okay? I want to apologize for what I did to you. For everything."

In response, Roxas couldn't help but let out a humorless chuckle. He hadn't felt angry at all with Larxene until now. But now it entered his body slowly and lethally like poison. "Oh? And who sent you here? Marluxia? Naminé?"

Larxene snarled at the blond boy, "Look here, you little shit! I'm _trying_ to apologize. Your fucking thing is being able to tell when people are lying, yeah? So look at my fucking forehead. Am I lying? Huh? I'm _sorry_!" She grabbed him by the collar of the shirt and glared into his face. "I'm sorry I hurt Naminé through you. I'm sorry I got Seifer to beat you up. I'm sorry about all that shit." Her anger seemed to fade away at that point and she released Roxas.

"Marluxia was right. I'm just jealous and scared that he likes you more than me now. Marluxia's like the only family that I have, even if we're not related by blood. The idea of some kid coming along randomly from some island paradise and sweeping him off his feet, platonically of course, is fucking terrifying. But I mean, I guess," her voice broke and she quickly coughed and cleared her throat, "I guess if he prefers you to me, then there's nothing I can really do. I'm just that shitty of a person, then, I guess."

Roxas just looked up at the girl incredulously. He didn't really know how to respond to all that. He'd never seen Larxene get emotional at all, and that little break in her façade really got to him, rendering him speechless.

"Okay, you're making me really uncomfortable," Larxene murmured, shifting her weight from one leg to the other. "That's all I wanted to say, so, you know, I guess I'll be going." And with that, she headed straight towards the front door and showed herself out.

Roxas took a moment to stare at the front door before he turned back to Zexion, who shrugged at him. To a certain degree, Roxas empathized with Larxene. When he and Sora first started going to school and his twin started to get popular, he always worried that he'd be left behind and that Sora liked everyone else better. Listening to Larxene apologize brought him back to 4 year-old Roxas, and he decided to text Marluxia and Naminé to tell them that Larxene had apologized. He guessed that they probably hadn't talked to her at all, and while he still harbored a few bad feelings towards her, he didn't think she deserved to lose her best friends over it.

Anxious, Roxas wondered how Monday would play out. He still had to do some of the work Xemnas had passed along to him and he probably had more work he had to make up at school, but that was a given. Aside from the school part, he wondered how everyone would act. He hadn't really faced anyone aside from Zexion and Axel since he returned home. He hoped very deeply that things wouldn't be awkward when he arrived back at school, but looked forward to it all the same.

* * *

><p>Monday morning, Roxas found it hard to get up. Not only had he had his own five-day weekend without having to wake up early, Zexion's body heat and his bed made him far too comfortable. Both fortunately and unfortunately for the blond, his best friend decided pushing him out of the bed and onto the floor for the second time that weekend was the best way to get him up. It did the job, but Roxas wouldn't stop angrily grumbling to himself about it all through breakfast.<p>

The two best friends and Sora hitched a ride to school with Demyx since Cloud had threatened their phone privileges if they had contact in person outside of school with either Axel or Riku, which neither wanted to test. They both kind of just gritted their teeth and tried not to talk back. Things were already volatile. Who knew what would happen if they kept putting up a fight with every little thing.

When the four friends arrived at school, Zexion and Demyx went to go sit at the vending machines as per usual, Sora broke off to go find Riku, and Roxas decided to go see some of his teachers about the work he'd missed. Surprisingly, he'd managed to finish all the work he'd received, which he really thanked Zexion for. The bluenette had explained many of the concepts he needed in order to complete all the work.

Roxas decided to visit Mr. Price first, seeing as the blond liked him the most of his teachers. When he got to the blond teacher's classroom, he found Marluxia there yelling at Mr. Price, who was yelling back. Before entering the room completely, Roxas chose to eavesdrop on them a bit to see if it was okay to interrupt or not. He watched the couple through the door, which was cracked slightly ajar.

"Marluxia, I don't understand why you're so angry with me! I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about!" Mr. Price assured him, seeming to be the defensive party.

"You fucking played with me! I'm just some stupid high school kid to you. You just fucking led me on! You never cared about me. I was fucking," Marluxia paused to groan in frustration, "I was fucking _serious_ about you! And you just treated me like some stupid kid! I honestly thought there was something between us. I guess I was wrong."

Immediately, Mr. Price's face dropped. He seemed extremely surprised at the accusation. "Marluxia," he began, placing his hands on the pinkette's shoulder. They were shrugged off a second later, and he just dropped his arms back down to his sides sullenly. "Why would you think I wasn't serious about you? I don't even get why _you're_ serious about _me_. You may think I have the upper hand because I am older than you, but you're completely wrong. I'm not some unobtainable mythical, fantasy creature. I'm not someone to whom others give a lot of attention. I'm not "cool" or good looking. You're the one people flock to. You could easily bed anyone you wanted, powers or not. But you somehow chose to settle for me? A high school science teacher who undoubtedly has less experience with romance than you? If anyone's being played with here, Marluxia, it would be me."

Marluxia looked up at the blond's face, a little shocked. "What? What are you talking about? I'm not playing you. And you _are_ cool and good looking and you definitely have the upper hand. I have absolutely no experience with romance. I've got plenty of experience with sex, but none with romance. And I don't think you're serious about me because you told Xaldin you had something going on with some guy that works at a post office."

Vexen grabbed up a small pile of papers, rolled them together, and then swatted Marluxia with the roll. "You fucking idiot!" he snarled and continued to smack the pink-haired teen.

"Ow! Hey!" the pinkette recoiled, covering his face and head with his arms. "What'd I say?"

"_You're_ the guy at the post office, stupid! What, you think I'd just tell Xaldin I'm having romantic relations with a high school student? A minor, no less? Huh? Right in front of my _two bosses_?" He continued to assail the younger man as he hissed this at him.

"What? You introduced me to everyone as your romantic interest by making me out to be a guy at a post office?" Marluxia wondered, confused.

"No! It didn't start out that way." Mr. Price delivered one final swat before abandoning the rolled papers in the trash. "I used to be interested in this guy that works at a post office, but that interest faded as you persisted in pursuing me. I just kept up the façade because there's no reason not to. Until you've graduated, I can't introduce you to anyone as my partner."

"So," Marluxia paused to think for a moment, "this means we're partners? Officially boyfriends?" he wondered, his expression brightening more and more by the second, completely ignoring the rest of what Mr. Price had said.

Mr. Price grinned at the pinkette. "You're a dolt. But I accept your shortcomings." He put his hands to Marluxia's face gently and placed a chaste kiss on his lips.

"And you'll be _cumming shortly_." The pinkette smirked as he backed the scholar up against his desk.

Roxas decided now would be the best time to interrupt, and closed the door so that he could knock on it. Bursting in the room didn't sound like a good idea, seeing as Marluxia looked to be getting ready to give his chemistry teacher a blowjob. After waiting for a few moments, and a slight fuss from inside the classroom, Mr. Price answered the door.

"Oh, Roxas! It's good to see you again, please come in." He seemed pleasantly surprised to see the boy again. '_Well, if we had to be interrupted by anyone right now, I suppose Roxas is the best choice._'

Immediately upon Roxas and Marluxia making eye contact, the pinkette stood from his seat on one of the desks next to Mr. Price's desks and raced across the room to catch the smaller boy in a big hug. "Oh, Roxas! I was so worried about you! I'm so glad you're alive and in one piece!" He hugged the boy so passionately and tightly that he crushed all the breath out of him and began to swing him around a bit in his arms. "Oh, where were you hiding, Roxas?" He set the blond down after asking and fixed him with a hard glare.

"Naminé's room. Under her bed most of the time. I got to hear Zexion fucking Demyx. It was nice," he explained, grinning at his friend.

"Roxas," Marluxia said disapprovingly. He crossed his arms on his chest. "While I think it's fantastic that you got to experience that and will surely give Zexion a hard time about it later, I frown upon you for running away like that."

Roxas rolled his eyes, completely irritated by the tone of what Marluxia's statement more than anything. "Sweet. Look, I'm basically done with dealing with that shit, so you can kindly fuck off. Anyway, I'm not even here for you, asshole." He turned to approach Mr. Price's desk, where the educator had returned. "Mr. Price, is there any other work I have to make up aside from the packet I got from Mr. Diskin?" he asked.

"You finished all of it?" the teacher's eyebrows shot up in surprise. "The packet went over concepts that you missed, you realize, yes?"

The blond student nodded. "Yeah, Zexion explained it to me, though. I think I understand it pretty well. Is there anything else I need to do?"

"Well, that is quite impressive," he said aloud. '_Zexion had better not have simply done Roxas' work for him. Though I suppose Zexion's handwriting is quite recognizable, and he isn't one to cheat anyway._'

"Anyway, that's all the classwork and homework I assigned. You'll need to come in some day at lunch to make up a lab that we did, however. Any Tuesday, Thursday, or Friday is fine. Just come in when you can. Keep in mind that the sooner you come in, the better. Understood?" he inquired.

"Yeah," Roxas replied, already loathing having to give up more of the free time he had little of. The bell for first period rang out at that point, so he turned to exit the classroom, dodging past Marluxia, who seemed a bit put off by Roxas' behavior.

"Hey, Roxas, wait up!" the pinkette called after him, quickly gathering his backpack and catching up to the younger boy in the hallway just outside of Mr. Price's classroom.

"What, you're gonna lecture me more?" he asked with a scoff. He didn't mean to come off as sounding like such a bitch, but he couldn't help but get angry at being treated this way by Marluxia, of all people.

"No, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have started off talking to you like that. Let me just hug you and kiss you and love you, okay?" the older boy pleaded.

The two stopped talking and Roxas turned around to face Marluxia. He was glad his friend was understanding of his feelings and forgave him instantly. Without a second thought, he wrapped his arms around the older boy. "Fine, I forgive you, but only because you're so cute," murmured the blond.

Marluxia chuckled as he returned the embrace. "Well it's nice to know being cute has its benefits. Things have been dreadfully silent without you around, Roxas. I'm glad you're not hurt or anything." Without warning, he planted a kiss on the top of the boy's head.

Roxas couldn't help but blush at that. "Okay, yes, I get it, now I'll be late to class if you don't let go."

"Oh, alright. I'll see you at nutrition, then."

They separated and waved to each other as they began travelling in different directions.

Even though he'd sort of missed school a little bit while he'd been gone, Roxas definitely did not miss it now that he had to attend. He had a few assignments to make up, as well as a test, and everyone was basically indifferent to his return. It almost seemed like he hadn't left at all, and just had a lot of homework that day. Luckily, most of his classes seemed to be doing review assignments for finals the following week, meaning he didn't have much homework.

Nutrition came and went like nothing, mostly because Roxas missed the majority of it because Mr. Price had stopped him so they could talk for a few minutes. When lunch rolled around, though, he made sure not to let his English teacher hold him up for longer than five minutes. Zexion left ahead of him since Demyx came by and asked the bluenette to accompany him to his locker, so Roxas expected to be walking to his locker alone that lunch. It served as a pleasant surprise when he exited the room and found Axel there waiting for him.

"Hey, what's up?" asked the blond, a little worried something bad had happened. Axel had never come to Roxas' class specifically to walk him to his locker. Happiness began to sprout within his stomach, and he guessed this must've been how Zexion always felt whenever Demyx went out of his way to do something for him.

"Not much. Just thought I'd walk you to your locker. Is that okay?" the taller boy responded, apparently feeling a bit awkward. '_God, I feel like such a pussy. Why am I getting so strung out just asking to walk him to his locker? It's like I'm back where I started even though we're dating now!_'

"Yeah, it's okay," Roxas answered, feeling a bit embarrassed. As they walked, the air shifted, feeling awkward and silence overtook them for a while. Since they didn't have to hide their relationship anymore—because now Sora knew about them)—they didn't quite know how to act with each other. They were caught up in a strange position of having the ability to be openly in a relationship but unsure of whether that was really okay or not.

"So, how's your homework load been so far? Got a lot of stuff to make up?" Axel piped up after a few minutes of painful silence in which both had undoubtedly struggled with the urge to hold the other's hand.

"Not too much. Just a few things. It shouldn't be too bad. So far, most of my classes are doing reviews for finals, so there's not much actual homework anyway," the blond explained. They'd arrived at his locker by that point and found Sora and Riku there, the brunet pushed up against the locker and the sileverette pinning him there with their lips locked together.

Axel snickered to himself at them while Roxas body-slammed Sora to the side, causing the brunet to yelp and fall on his ass.

"What the heck, Roxas?" Sora exclaimed after a moment of processing what exactly had just happened. He harrumphed and took Riku's proffered hands to help him stand up before wiping his pants off of the invisible dirt they'd accumulated.

"You and Riku were in the way of our locker, which I need to open to return and retrieve books. And I sure as hell am not gonna push Riku. I doubt I even have the strength to do that. You're an easy target for me, though," he responded with a smirk.

"Axel." Sora ignored Roxas' explanation in lieu of turning to face Axel. He stared the redhead down with clear contempt in his eyes.

"Sora." The older boy returned the greeting.

"If you break Roxas' heart, I'll break your fucking spine. Got that?" the brunet questioned with a strong glare directed at Axel. His voice sounded angry, and rough, and completely unlike the way his voice normally sounded. He was _serious_.

"Got it," Axel replied, sounding a bit scared, or put off at the least.

Roxas made sure to finish swapping out his books hastily and began dragging Axel away by the arm in an effort to save his boyfriend from his brother's impending tirade. "Okay, see you around, Sora!"

The couple made their way to the vending machines, both relieved that everyone had survived the encounter with Sora free of injuries. It could have easily turned into a fight, based on the look the brunet had given Axel.

Hoping to ease a bit of the tension, but still along the same train of thought, Roxas asked, "So how are things between you and Reno?"

Axel shrugged. "They're okay. He still doesn't want me to hang around you, but we both know that's not happening. He'll get over everything eventually. Sometimes he just feels like he has to protect me, which is both nice and completely irritating. I wish he didn't think he had to "protect" me from the thing that makes me happiest right now, though."

"Oh, right, and I'm the thing that makes you happiest? The _thing_?" Roxas grumbled in mock anger to hide his embarrassment.

"Why, of course, you are the _object_ of my attraction. The _thing_," Axel laughed as he put his arm around the smaller boy. "I see you as nothing more than a body to sate my desires. Your personality means nothing to me. Give in to it, Roxas. You know you like it," he teased.

"Yes, I love being objectified. It is my favorite thing in the world," the blond responded sarcastically.

"So it's basically agreed. You're basically my bitch."

"_You're_ a basic bitch!" Roxas argued.

"Girl, you're a perfect ten. On the pH scale 'cause you're _basic_!" Axel cackled after that as they began to approach the vending machines. Their friends only looked up, but gave no other greeting, waiting for the two to sit down.

Roxas just frowned in deep disappointment. "No. Just no, alright?"

"Aw, come on baby, you know you like it!" the redhead chuckled. He wrapped his arms around Roxas, who smirked at his boyfriend.

"Fuck you," he chuckled along before yanking the older boy down into a kiss. And after that, Roxas remembered they were in public and among their friends, who obviously saw what had happened. Quickly, he and Axel broke the kiss and looked at their friends who had gone very silent.

Larxene was amongst them, Roxas noticed, and she, Marluxia, and Demyx seemed absolutely astonished at what they'd just witnessed. Their mouths hung agape a little, making Roxas' face grow very hot. He'd never really been a big fan of PDA and this was why. The feeling of embarrassment that always overwhelmed him overrode the pleasure, making it not worth it.

"Um," Demyx voiced his, Marluxia's, and Larxene's confusion.

Roxas turned to his boyfriend, red-faced. "You didn't tell them what happened?" he wondered.

"No, I didn't know what you wanted me to do. Your dad told me not to tell Sora or your mom what happened, so I figured things would stay the same," Axel explained.

"Wait, wait, wait, you figured things would stay the same? What the fuck are you talking about? What the fuck is going on?" Larxene demanded.

"Why aren't you two surprised at all?" Demyx demanded of Zexion and Naminé.

The two looked at each other and shrugged.

Even though he knew these were his friends and that Demyx and Marluxia were both gay themselves, and that none of them was the least bit homophobic, admitting the truth of the matter they'd been hiding all this time felt weird and strangely unnatural. "Axel and I, we're kind of dating, I guess?" Roxas finally managed after a few minutes of deliberation. "And that's why I ran away? Not because of Larxene? Because my dad walked in on us and he really wants to believe I'm straight?"

Everyone just sat in silence for a few moments, Axel and Roxas sitting down together.

"How long have you guys been dating exactly?" Marluxia inquired. He seemed the most let down of the three. '_Why didn't you tell me sooner, Roxas? Did you think I would get angry at you? Or what? You know I'm not homophobic at all, seeing as I'm also gay._'

"Around three months?" Axel answered, seeming a bit unsure. "Since right after Demyx and Zexion got together, basically. It was, like, two or three days after Halloween?"

"So, Roxas, you've been dating Axel for three months and you're still a virgin?" Demyx asked, sounding confused. '_I would've thought that Axel would fuck Roxas the second he had the chance to._'

This thought made Roxas vastly uncomfortable, and he must've made some sort of face that tipped off Demyx's thoughts had disturbed, because suddenly Axel flushed red before turning to Demyx and pushing the sandy blond over onto his back. "Fuck off, okay? He's still a virgin and it's been three months. Sorry if we didn't just jump into bed together!" Hastily, he began taking out his lunch.

"Well, I guess that does explain why Roxas has taken to wearing your sweaters lately. I thought it was just because he didn't have any of his own," Marluxia mused and then paused to chuckle before continuing. "It also answers the question of who was sexing you up while you were on the phone with me the day before you disappeared. And seriously, Roxas, you told Naminé and _Zexion_ before you told me? What did I ever do to deserve this?"

"I went to Naminé's house when I ran away, so obviously I told her the whole story. I didn't tell Zexion until Saturday night. I had to tell him before you! He gets best friend privileges. Plus, I was just keeping it a secret because I didn't want Sora to find out since he already hates Axel enough as it is. Now it doesn't really matter, though, because he knows. He's probably off making out with Riku somewhere anyway, so he'll leave Axel alone for now," the blond explained. "It wasn't really that I didn't trust you. I just didn't want to risk Sora finding out."

Marluxia still grumbled a bit in discontent, but accepted the explanation.

"From the looks of it, it appears you're a good couple," Zexion chimed in. "You two seem to go well together."

Axel and Roxas looked at each other briefly for a moment before looking away and blushing. "Well, thanks," the redhead mumbled, scratching at his neck in embarrassment. '_Oh, fuck, this is great. Ah, fuck, I get to show Roxas off and tell everyone he's mine. God, this is fucking __**awesome**_.'

Demyx suddenly snapped his fingers after having finally righted himself. "That explains why you suddenly stopped being so depressed after Roxas brutally rejected you on Halloween! Wait a minute, how did that even happen? How did you go from the friendzone to boyfriend-material?"

"Huh? What happened on Halloween?" Marluxia wondered. '_God, if they bring up what happened with Vexen, I'll kill them all._'

When Roxas remembered the kiss and how he'd punched Axel in the face, he immediately flushed red and hid his face in his hands with a humiliated groan. Thinking back on it, it was actually quite embarrassing. The animosity that had overcome him embarrassed him quite thoroughly because things had changed so much. Rather than being irritated by Axel and his affection, he now craved it like nothing else. His adamant attitude toward not wanting to view the redhead romantically made it especially embarrassing that he'd been wrong.

Axel grinned at the blond and put an arm around him. "I made my first legitimate move on Roxas on Halloween. I took him out to that tree with the tire swing at Demyx and Naminé's house and kissed him. He got so mad at me that he fucking punched me in the face!" he explained. "Isn't that right, Roxas?" he asked, teasing the blond.

"Oh, fuck off! We're together now, aren't we?" Roxas retorted, pushing the older teen away. "I just thought you were annoying, and at the time, I had less than zero romantic interest in you. You were completely unappealing to me."

Axel gave the blond a sad look and traced a tear down his cheek. "Why must you hurt me in this way?"

"So how did you manage to convince him to suck your dick?" Larxene asked the redhead. "Did you just wave it in his face until he finally wanted to give it a taste?"

"I've never given Axel head!" Roxas corrected her, face feeling like it would burn off. "And he's never given me head, either!" he added for good measure.

"Sure, Roxas, we all believe you," Axel snorted. To their other friends, he whispered loudly, "Says the guy who argued that he doesn't like twincest or BDSM when he clearly lets Sora punish him on a regular basis!"

Roxas groaned and buried his face in his hands, irritated. "Ugh, I'm not even gonna respond to that."

"To answer your question, Larxene, I accidentally guilt-tripped him into wanting to date me. Surprise, surprise, he likes me for real now! Oh, it's funny how relationships start out, isn't it?" Axel wondered, sounding overly enthusiastic.

"Jeez, how is this fair at all?" Naminé wailed in distress. "Demyx and Zexion are a couple, Larxene has Luxord, Vexen and Marluxia clearly have something going on, and now Roxas and Axel are a thing. Now it's just me! I'm all _alone_!"

"Aww, Nam, you'll find someone soon, I know it!" Demyx promised her, putting his arm around his sister and kissing her cheek. "Besides, you don't need a boyfriend anyway. They just get messy and confusing and all they want from you is sex. Really, you're perfectly fine on your own."

"Oh yeah? Is that how Zexion is for you? He's messy and confusing and all he wants from you is sex? And that's how you are to him?" Naminé countered.

"Well," Demyx argued, "it's different because Zexion's adorable and so am I. Boom. Logic."

"You should trust him Nam. That's definitely how Axel is with me. He's not adorable enough," Roxas added.

"Oh, are you guys ready for Saturday?" Marluxia suddenly interjected, directing the question at everyone. "Will you be able to go, Roxas? I'm not sure how things are around your house at the moment, but it'd be great if you could go."

When Roxas expressed his confusion over what was going on, Naminé explained that Wednesday had been Marluxia's birthday and that her own birthday was on Saturday. They both planned to celebrate their birthdays on Saturday, to make things easier for everyone. Marluxia explained that they'd probably be having a small party at the Organization headquarters because he'd asked Mr. Diskin in advance if that was okay. Of course, the silver-haired man agreed and asked if it was okay that everyone else join, which nobody had a problem with (except maybe Zexion, but he kept his discontent to himself.

Partying with all his friends after such a shitty week sounded great, but he doubted his parents would let him. Roxas sighed and told his friends he'd try to get permission, but not to count on anything. His parents definitely wouldn't like that Axel would be there and Reno wouldn't like Roxas being there, so that added to the pile of other reasons why they probably wouldn't let him attend.

* * *

><p>The next day, Roxas found himself in the library with Axel during lunchtime at the request of Riku. Of course, the couple had no reason to refuse. Besides, Roxas had wanted to speak with the silverette ever since he'd heard about Riku and Sora finally going out, and was glad for the opportunity. Axel seemed a little less enthusiastic, however, probably because he'd wanted the blond for himself that day.<p>

On the previous day, the couple didn't see each other at all after lunch because Roxas had to go directly home after school. Cloud even came by the school to take him home so that he didn't have to walk home in the snow. Then the older blond had proceeded to confiscate his cell phone, which Roxas had been absolutely furious about. Even after Sora's speech, Roxas and his twin were still in trouble for being gay. Thus, he had been out of contact with his boyfriend, which made the redhead even clingier than he already was.

Somehow, Riku had managed to convince the lanky teen that this was a better use of their precious time. Thus, they all sat together at a table in the school library.

"Sorry for taking up your guys' time, but Sora told me about the punishments you guys have right now, so there's really no other opportunity for me to talk to the both of you," Riku began, addressing mostly Roxas.

"Whatever, can we just hurry up? I want to make out with my boyfriend and you're cutting into that time," Axel curtly requested, his whole demeanor grumpy and agitated.

Riku grinned and chuckled. "Yeah, sorry. Anyway, I just wanted to tell you guys about what happened, even though since I'm dating Sora now, you've probably already assumed that everything's okay. Well, basically, when I went in to get it checked out, it definitely was cancer. More specifically, it was something called melanoma, which is actually a deadlier type of skin cancer. Luckily, since it showed up so quickly and since I caught it before it had the chance to become worse, the doctors were able to remove it through surgery and now I'm fine. Though, I was told that melanoma is more likely to come back once you get it, so I guess I just have to be more careful. So yeah."

Even though it had, indeed, been cancer and even though Riku was more likely to get it again later in life now, Roxas still felt relief settle in his spine and stomach. "That's good," he responded.

"Yeah, Zexion told me a little bit about it," Axel said, "but more important than that, you're dating Sora now. How's that going?" he wondered, cocking an eyebrow and smirking.

A huge smile split Riku's face and he giggled very uncharacteristically, clearly giddy over the very mention of him and Sora. "Even though it hasn't even been a week, it's fucking incredible. Well, aside from the fact that he can't kiss to save his life, and he's reluctant to even kiss me a lot of the time. But there's nothing in the world better than the way he smiles at me and how he clings to me just a bit closer now."

A slight feeling of disapproval overcame Roxas, and he kind of pursed his lips in displeasure. "You know," he began, hoping not to sound like a total bitch, "if I find out you're pressuring Sora into doing things he doesn't want to do, like kissing for example since you brought it up, I'll literally shave your head and shove your hair down your throat."

Worry crossed Riku's face for a second. "But it's just kissing! It's not like I'm asking him to bend over for me," the silverette pointed out.

"You have to understand this, Riku. Sora has never kissed anyone or been kissed by any non-relative before you. You are the only person who's ever kissed him or been kissed by him. He's only had two crushes in his entire life, and you're one of them. To Sora, kissing is a big deal. He's just really bad at it because before you came along, he had legitimately zero experience. Keep that in mind. Let Sora tell you what he wants to do. He told me the other day that he's worried he'll disappoint you because you're so much more experienced. I told him to just go at his own pace and that if you pressure him, he should just dump you."

Riku nodded, thoughtful and silent. "Okay," he responded after a moment of quiet. "I guess I understand. I won't impose my wants onto him. I guess if I did keep forcing him to kiss me even when he was hesitant to, it kind of makes me look like a jerk, even if kissing is just kissing."

"By the way, how are things at home, Roxas? Haven't really talked to you since you got back," the silverette wondered, changing the subject.

In response, Roxas lie down against the table, burying his face in his arms. "Everything's fucking terrible," he answered, voice very muffled. "Sora and I are basically both on lockdown. Our parents are being such assholes about everything."

"Yeah, I know about that part. He told me you guys have to go to family counseling now since you ran away," Riku responded.

Axel rolled his eyes impatiently and decided to begin playing with Roxas' hair.

"Yeah. We start tomorrow. I don't want to go _at all_. It just fucking pisses me off because my dad said we wouldn't be in trouble, but they've already taken away our phones and they're not letting us leave the house for anything except school," the blond complained.

"Why don't you just not go home? That's complete bullshit logic. Since you're already in trouble, why not break some rules? I'm not saying you should run away again, but I know you and Axel will be pressed for time spent together. Why not just go home with him?" Sora's boyfriend suggested.

"Reno hates Roxas right now. He and Cloud talked and now apparently, I'm not allowed to see Roxas either. Reno thinks this'll help somehow because apparently Roxas "hurt me" in and irreparable and unforgivable way. It's complete bullshit. He's been coming home earlier than normal lately, so the chances are that he'd just kick Roxas out or call Cloud," Axel explained.

Riku took a moment to think about the situation. "Why not ditch sixth period? I know you already have work you had to make up, Roxas, but a little more wouldn't make that much of a difference. Plus, if you're worried about failing the final, you can get Zexion to help you study. He's really good at teaching, even if he gets impatient a lot of times. You guys would get at least an hour or so to just chill at your house in that case," he proposed. "Oh! Plus, one of the office aides owes Marluxia a favor, so if you're worried about it counting against your attendance, which you should be since you had three unexcused absences, he can get the girl to write up an off-campus pass for you."

Roxas thought over the suggestion for a minute. It didn't really make sense for him to follow his father's orders if he was already in trouble. In addition to that, he really felt like he needed some time with Axel because stress was killing him. Nodding decisively, the blond told Axel, "Let's go talk to Marluxia. I'm down for ditching sixth period."

Axel nodded in understanding and smirked. "See? You need and miss me," he teased.

Instead of making a snarky comment like he normally would, Roxas just nodded and hummed, "Mhmm."

And with that, they left the library, saying their goodbyes to Riku, who also seemed eager to leave, probably so he could go see Sora.

Luckily for the couple, Marluxia was more than willing to help them out, and sent a text to the girl who apparently owed him a favor. The pinkette explained that he thought Roxas deserved it after everything he'd gone through recently.

When sixth period rolled around, sure enough, an office aide came to Roxas' classroom with an off campus-pass in her hands for the blond. Eagerly, he went to collect it and promised his teacher he'd get the homework done. Before he knew it, he was sitting in the passenger seat of Axel's truck, excitement bubbling in his stomach. He didn't even really want to do anything sexual. Really he just wanted to enjoy his boyfriend's warmth and presence and chat for a while. So when they got to Axel's apartment, they decided to cuddle up in the redhead's bed.

The sensation of simply being held by the redhead was incredibly wonderful. Roxas felt so safe and invincible, like nothing had the slightest chance of fazing him. He buried his face against Axel's collarbone and breathed in his boyfriend's essence. Despite the fact that he knew they were basically just waiting to get caught, the blond couldn't find it in himself to worry or care. For the time being, he was content and felt like maybe things would work out, even if it meant he had to sneak around and break a few rules.

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><p><strong>AN: **Wow stuff whoa look at that, so awesome.

I love these long chapters. It actually feels like stuff is happening together for a reason whereas the shorter chapters just seemed like a preview or snapshot. Feels more like a novel, you know? Hope you enjoyed it as much as I did.

I really appreciate everyone's support, it's so nice to hear all your feedback! If you loved this chapter or hated it, drop me a line. Express your love, don't just hold it in like the uke in a yaoi manga or the lead female in a shoujo manga!

Hope you have an excellent day, and even if you think Valentine's Day is all commercialized and a pile of garbage, I wish you a happy Valentine's Day anyway! There's no point in hating on a holiday that's supposed to promote love, so please enjoy it even if you are single like me!

Byee~


	32. He's Such a Good Boy

**A/N: **Hey, y'all! It's been a while, and I'm sorry. Especially since this chapter isn't quite as long as the last two. Real life has gotten hectic lately. Second semester of senior year and I now have a freelance job and an internship coming up and I'm learning how to DM for DND campaigns and I'm going to Great Britain and France for spring break, so things have been really cray lately!

I'm gonna keep trying to write, but it's just like, I value my free time more now and I kind of don't always feel like writing when I'm supes busy.

Anyway, thank you for all your continued support! I appreciate all the reviews, faves, and alerts and it fills my heart up with sunshine! And a special thank you to the lovely Rugiku for beta-ing for me!

Please enjoy this chapter!

Kingdom Hearts © Disney and Enix

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><p>Much too quickly, time passed. For nearly the entire visit, Roxas and Axel both hung in a relaxed limbo between sleep and wakefulness. Neither boy talked much as they simply enjoyed the sounds of each other's breathing and general existence. In all his life, Roxas had never experienced time slipping away as quickly as it had then because suddenly, knocking sounded on Axel's door.<p>

Reno's voice carried through the door, saying, "Axel, can you please help put away the groceries I just got?" He sounded more polite than usual, which Roxas suspected was a result of his boyfriend treating the older redhead coldly for the past few days and Reno wanting to make things right again.

Axel grumbled unhappily as he disentangled his and his boyfriend's limbs so that he could fulfill the request. The air around the couple soured as he did so and sobered up into somber acceptance of what was to come. They both knew Roxas would be kicked out shortly, but had accepted that this would happen when they first hatched the idea. One hour simply did not offer enough time to make satisfaction achievable for either of them.

A few seconds after Axel left the room, Reno entered, and Roxas could feel the adult's gaze on him. "I knew you'd be here, you fucker," Reno growled.

Roxas didn't even roll over to dignify that statement by returning the redhead's undoubtedly angry gaze.

"Your dad called and said you weren't at the school when he went to go pick you up. Said he even went to the office to broadcast your name over the intercom. He called me when he realized you weren't at school at all. I was already on my way home by the time he called, so I told him I'd check to see if you were here but I knew you would be. I'm calling your dad," Reno continued on as the sound of cell phone buttons being pressed drifted from him.

It was at this point Roxas wondered what his punishment could be. He'd already lost his phone, so he supposed he'd lose access to the car now. Well, at least he didn't use the car that much and neither did Sora. He did figure, though, that his father wouldn't be in the best mood when they saw each other next.

"Cloud, he's here. Do you wanna come get him or should I deliver him to you?" Reno's voice broke through Roxas' musings. A pause followed and then he responded to whatever Cloud had said, "Yeah, sure. That's fine. I'll text you the apartment address." Another pause. "See you then, bye."

For the remainder of his visit to the Flynn household, Roxas found himself on their couch in the living room with Reno sitting between him and Axel. Cloud arrived not too long after and collected Roxas with a strong hand on his shoulder, guiding him out of the apartment and to his car.

"Roxas," Cloud murmured his voice letting on just how angry he was, even though his face throughout the entire ordeal so far had remained fairly neutral. "You knew you'd get in trouble for pulling a stunt like this. Do you know how _irritating_ it is that I showed up at the school and found out that you weren't even there? Fuck, why the hell would _do_ something stupid like this? Are you honestly _trying_ to make my life turn to a pile of shit? Huh?"

Roxas didn't respond. He didn't even look at his father. Instead, he kept his furious gaze trained on the world outside his window. With every second and every remark his father made, he found himself exponentially angrier and angrier. Honestly he just wanted to scream at his father about everything and call him out on all this bullshit. Luckily, he found it in himself to hold back with the hopes of not adding more fuel to the fire.

Already Cloud seemed nearing the end of his rope and his breathing was quicker than normal, more evidence to speak to the volume of his rage. Roxas really didn't want to see what would happen if Cloud finally reached that threshold of anger he could deal with. He definitely wasn't equipped to handle the force of his father's wrath. So he kept his mouth shut.

That night dinner was an awkward, tension-filled affair. Tifa didn't talk at all, not even to scold Roxas for what he'd done earlier. She also seemed to realize that any contribution she made would simply be adding fuel to the fire. Even Sora was quiet and only spoke occasionally, but stopped when he realized his efforts to lift the mood were futile.

"So, on Saturday, I'm going to a party to celebrate Marluxia's 18th birthday," Roxas eventually announced. He didn't think asking to go would have been appropriate, so he decided simply informing them would be better. If his parents tried to keep him home at all, he'd already resolved to go no matter what, even if it meant sneaking out.

Nobody argued with Roxas' statement, which made the blond uneasy. Their foreheads were too full to redeem anything clear from them, which scared him even more. Did this mean they didn't care anymore about what he did? Or did it mean they realized that trying to keep him cooped up wouldn't work like it had when he'd been less than twelve years old and feared his parents akin to how people fear tigers? He hoped with all his being that it was the second option. The first option and the idea that they'd just given up on him and didn't care anymore made his skin crawl.

Roxas tried not to dwell on this because he felt like if he did, he wouldn't be able to sleep peacefully that night. As he lay awake later that evening, he couldn't escape the thoughts he had about the counseling session they had planned for tomorrow. If the session at school was any indication, then things would be absolutely terrible and nothing would be resolved. He doubted that psychiatrists were anything like the way they were portrayed in books and in movies and TV. Instead, he liked to hold onto the idea that they knew what they were doing and that their many years of schooling meant they knew how to handle situations and not make everyone feel like they were paying for someone to just listen to them bitch about each other.

Some form of hope gathered in Roxas' stomach and throat in the form of a light, golden sensation. Maybe finally he and Sora would figure out why their family was so shitty and why it had changed from the close-knit group they'd been in their early childhood to this tense, quiet group of distant strangers.

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><p>Then again, Roxas could have been wrong about that hope. Maybe he'd never know about why their family was so dysfunctional and maybe it just existed because it did and there was no cause of it. Maybe his memories of childhood had been a lie and nothing had ever been good in the Strife family. Of course, these doubts came from the joke of their first counseling session.<p>

Luckily, there was some form of saving grace about the situation, and that was the psychiatrist seemed to be intelligent and well-educated. She had all her credentials hung up on the wall neatly in matching frames and seemed down to earth and caring, while remaining serious and no-nonsense at the same time. Her name was Mrs. Bates and she seemed to be bright and altogether _there_ if that made sense. Everything about her was very put together; her hair, her clothes, her makeup, her office, the general air about her.

Now, the reason for the terribleness of their session was the fact that Tifa kept dodging questions and refused to let anyone answer without interrupting and correcting them. Her entire demeanor was very tense and unfriendly. She seemed much like a cat who was getting a bath with how she acted. Clearly, she wanted to get out of there. Her irritation even led her to take some shots at Mrs. Bates, but luckily, Mrs. Bates was unaffected by her words. Instead of entertaining Tifa with anger or outrage, she simply took note of it on her little clipboard.

Something Roxas really liked about Mrs. Bates was the endless well of patience she seemed to have and the scrutiny with which she appeared to survey every detail. She mostly just listened, only asking a question every so often, but she was so tuned in to everything that it made Roxas feel like she was still an active participant in the conversation despite the fact that she contributed little.

"Well, since many of the questions I've asked so far have gone unanswered, let me ask one question that I'd like to pose to Roxas and Sora," Mrs. Bates spoke up once Tifa had finished rambling about how ineffective this was turning out to be and how much of a waste of time it was. Her tone didn't sound accusatory in the slightest, quite unexpectedly. It simply stated a fact.

Roxas and Sora sat up from their slumped states in their respective chairs, interested to hear what she would ask.

Up until this point, Sora had been largely unresponsive. Rather, he contemplated something else entirely in an attempt to avoid and ignore their purpose for being here. He simply didn't want to accept the fact that their familial relations were so terrible that they needed a referee to work their problems out safely. He honestly, at the bottom of his heart, did not think they needed this counseling, confessed his forehead, because he didn't think things were really so bad.

Thoughts like these really put Roxas off because Sora seemed to be brushing off the fact that Tifa still treated him like utter shit for no apparent reason. He'd blinded himself to all the problems in the Strife household. Or maybe he didn't see them entirely because he was hardly home to experience the change. At the same time, though, Roxas expected Sora would be on board with this whole thing since he seemed to miss the old times when the two of them would cuddle together and he seemed to notice at least _some_ problems based on the time he'd walked in on Sora baring his heart and soul to Riku.

Since they were forced to be here, however, Roxas let it slide. Sora's opinions had little weight in their current situation, so the blond just let it go, not wanting to drag up more trouble.

Regardless, the twins sat up at the mention of Mrs. Bates' question and listened intently.

"What were things like when the two of you felt like your family was at its closest? Mrs. Strife, I'm going to ask that you remain silent during this time, seeing as I haven't interfered with your responses before. This is simply a question for Roxas and Sora." Mrs. Bates got her pen ready, prepared to take notes on their response.

The twins took a moment to look at each other as they thought for a moment, and out of the corner of his eye, Roxas saw Tifa grumbling to herself, but interested all the same.

"Well," Sora began, decisively taking the first step to answering, "I'd have to say the happiest time for our family was when we lived in Destiny Islands. Roxy and I were probably around eight or nine. We were all really happy together up until then, I think. Right, Roxy?"

Roxas honestly felt a degree of surprise that his twin had actually noticed the change and had reflected on it enough to know when it all started. "Yeah, I'd agree," the blond confirmed. "And we were happy because we all got along. Nobody had a favorite twin or a least favorite twin." He shot a look at his father, putting blame on him as well. That seemed much like the truth. When their parents loved both twins equally, there were no real problems. Everything was nice.

"Could you explain the environment a bit, please?" Mrs. Bates requested.

"Well, we spent a lot of time together and we all played and hung out together. We would go biking and hiking together and we'd take walks. Sometimes we'd get ice cream together and we ate out sometimes. The only thing that's really stayed the same is the fact that we still try to eat dinner together most nights. But, you know, now I'm basically the only one who talks. Everyone else stays quiet," Sora replied, his tone somber and nostalgic.

To some degree, Roxas felt surprised that his twin had grasped that he was typically the only one talking at dinner. Not that it wasn't obvious, the blond always thought Sora just liked talking so much that he went into his own little world and spoke without realizing that nobody else was talking. Maybe his twin's denial was only surface deep. Maybe he knew more than he let on.

"Right," Mrs. Bates responded distractedly as she took that down. "And what's the atmosphere like at this point?"

Roxas decided to answer this one because even though Sora also had to live in the same environment, the blond felt he got the brunt of the situation. "Nowadays, even before the shitstorm that caused all this, things were really tense whenever we were all together. It felt like the air was thick. You couldn't breathe because it was so stifling. Like, for me, it just seemed like I had to hold everything, even good things, inside because it felt like I couldn't really talk about anything."

"Oh, bullshit, Roxas!" Tifa interjected, surprising the family with her swearing. She swore very rarely, and even more scarcely in the presence of her children. Her entire face had taken on a crimson hue, ripe with absolute fury. "We gave you all the opportunity in the world to talk if you wanted. Don't feed us this bullshit!"

"Shut the fuck up! God, it's like you don't get at all how you treat me! Why would I feel comfortable to talk about stuff? It's not like you'd even care about what I had to say! Don't feed _me_ this bullshit about how you're the saint in all this and how you really love me and how everything is just so wonderful in our family! If any of that was true, do you think I'd have left?" Roxas immediately fired back.

"Alright, alright," Mrs. Bates spoke up before they could continue, effectively dissolving the coming argument with a fragment of a sentence. "Tifa, I'm going to encourage you to try to retain some of that animosity. There will be a time to analyze it, understand it, and then release it, but today is simply not that day. From what I've gathered, it's fortunate that Mr. Diskin directed your family to me at this time. Leaving such deeply rooted issues to fester any longer would have undoubtedly led to Roxas leaving for real and could have also led to a divorce eventually. Many times, situations like these do."

"Divorce?" Cloud spoke up. For most of the session Cloud had been sitting silently, absorbing everything, Roxas figured, since his forehead had been blank for the majority of the time. Honestly, he couldn't really tell what his father must've been feeling throughout the entire meeting. His voice revealed little about his overall attitude toward the entire situation, but he did sound a little alarmed.

"Oh yes, at times like these, parents often begin to disagree about how to handle these kinds of situations. With such heated issues involved, disagreements escalate quickly and it becomes difficult for the two parents to remain in each other's good graces." After that explanation, Mrs. Bates began shuffling about, straightening and returning papers to their rightful places. As she straightened up, she changed the topic saying, "Anyway, your hour session is over. We'll meet again on Monday. Does anyone have any questions for me about anything?"

Resounding silence filled the air in response. Tifa seethed quietly, Sora and Cloud had a glassy, expressionless look on both their faces, and Roxas didn't really know how to feel. He could understand that in the first session, they couldn't really expect to solve any issues, being that Mrs. Bates had to collect information to formulate some knowledge of their background and the issues before her.

At the same time, he found himself being skeptical of this idea's viability. Roxas had never really gone through anything like counseling before, and the practice of psychiatry had its cynics. He did feel relieved, however, that they were finished for the day. Similar to the day they went to the school counselor, Roxas felt completely emotionally drained.

Nothing sounded nicer than going to Axel's house to eat his boyfriend's cooking and then cuddle up for bedtime with him. Unfortunately, things like reality kept him from fulfilling his fantasy. Instead, Cloud took the initiative and decided it'd be good for them to go out to eat. Nobody complained about the idea, probably because no one felt like cooking and cleaning dishes that night. Exhaustion kept anyone from talking to each other much that evening, but everyone seemed okay with that. Roxas suspected that everyone mostly felt too tired to keep up the façade that everything was okay.

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><p>Friday came and went in a flash because Roxas slept through the majority of it in an attempt to sleep away the emotional exhaustion so he could get it out of his system before Saturday. His strategy proved effective when he woke up on Saturday morning feeling normal.<p>

At five o'clock, they were supposed to head over to the Organization headquarters to celebrate Marluxia's birthday. The pinkette had texted everyone at 4AM to inform them of this and the fact that they were supposed to bring pictures of themselves from different parts of their lives to put on the hallway entrance at the headquarters.

Seeing as Roxas had a good few hours before he had to be there, he decided to text Axel and see if they could hang out at all beforehand. He didn't think the redhead had work that day, so he looked forward to spending time with the older teen. As he dressed for the day, he wondered what Axel's pictures would look like. He'd never seen any photos of him as a kid before and he had to wonder what kind of kid he'd been. Somehow, he kind of settled on the fact that Axel was the kid in kindergarten who ate glue even after his teacher had already told him to stop several times before. He was probably the kind of kid to chase girls around with bugs in his hands.

In a stroke of sheer luck, Axel informed the blond that not only was he free that day, but Reno had work. Roxas felt himself grow egregiously happy in the span of ten seconds, so he told the redhead to come get him immediately and make him breakfast when they got back to his house.

While he waited, Roxas decided to brush his teeth and then return to his room to scavenge through some boxes that he and Sora had shoved into the closet that held family photo albums and pictures from the Polaroid camera they always stole from Rikku when they'd lived on the islands. He didn't really want to spend the time looking through them all lest he get wrapped up in them, so he removed a good amount of them that he reasoned he was probably in most of as well as a family photo album. He was just putting the rest of the pictures away when Sora entered the room hastily. He cried out in alarm when he saw Roxas.

"What?" Roxas wondered why Sora seemed so worried, his features morphed into fear but the question answered itself when there was a tap at the window, and Roxas peeked up at it to see Riku outside the window, most likely having climbed up the side of the house using the trellis Cloud and Tifa had installed some time after they'd moved in in an attempt to hide the chipping paint on the outside without actually having to paint over it.

Hurriedly, Sora closed and locked the door behind him before rushing to open the window and help Riku inside. Once safely standing on both feet in the Strife household, Sora whipped around to face Roxas. "You're leaving and you're not telling Mom or Dad what you saw, alright?" he ordered.

Roxas grinned as he stood up, pictures in hand. "Sora, Sora, Sora, you're turning into quite the naughty boy. Sneaking your boyfriend into the house? Scandalous." The blond smirked at his twin. "And good morning to you, Riku," he greeted the silverette.

"Yeah, well, it's not even morning, butt face, so get out of here," the brunet commanded before Riku could get a word in.

"It's noon, but good day to you, Roxas," Riku returned the greeting and glanced at the brunet twin thoughtfully and playfully.

"Before I leave, let's see a nice hug between the new couple. I've only seen you together once before, so I want to milk this moment," Roxas told his twin.

Sora scowled at him, but his face took on a pink shade. He hastily and briefly put his arms around Riku but then dropped his hands back to his sides and began ushering the blond towards the door.

"No, no, no!" Roxas tutted and turned back to face the brunet. "I need to see a real hug. A nice one. Go on, prove your affections to me."

Grumbling and flushing crimson, Sora buried half of his face in Riku's chest as their arms came around each other and they squeezed firmly together. "Is this good enough for you?" Sora demanded as Riku began to gently sway them. The animosity in Sora's face had settled down despite the hostile tone of the question. He seemed more at peace than Roxas ever recalled seeing him. The sight brought a smile to the blond's face.

"Yeah, that's good. Be careful, Sora. If Mom or Dad finds you and Riku, we're both fucked," Roxas cautioned before he turned and left, making sure to close the door behind him. At that point, Roxas felt his phone buzz in his pocket, so he figured Axel was here and quickly retrieved a bag to put his pictures in before donning his coat and boots and heading out to his boyfriend's truck.

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><p>"Mmm, Axel, why the fuck are you so good at making breakfast burritos? This is seriously ridiculous," Roxas managed to say around his mouth full of said burrito. He sat in Axel's kitchen with burrito in hand and a cup of orange juice sitting next to him.<p>

Axel himself was standing at the stove, now focused on cooking eggs for his own burrito. Roxas' compliment made the redhead grin like a dork and he chuckled.

"Just practice, I guess. Been making breakfast burritos all my life. Glad you like them, though. Want another?" he questioned.

Mouth at full capacity, all Roxas could do was shake his head and grunt in response. The burrito was absolutely filled with stuff, and even though Roxas ate a lot, there was no way he could eat more than one of these giant burritos. It was probably as long as his forearm and definitely thicker.

Eventually, Axel finished off creating his burrito, filled with avocado, cheese, eggs, lettuce, potatoes, salsa, sausage sour cream, and tomatoes, and sat next to Roxas with his own glass of orange juice. Silence reigned over the two as they focused on eating, during which the couple decided would be a good time to try consuming their breakfast as sexily as possible, complete with winks wagging eyebrows, and lots of licking gestures.

Once Roxas finally reached the top of the mountain and finished the burrito, he couldn't help but let out a particularly large burp and then sigh contentedly, leaning so far back against the chair that half of his own back barely touched the sitting device. "Fuck, that was delicious," he moaned as food-itis overcame him and drowsiness began to fog his mind.

"That was probably the most attractive thing you've ever done," Axel commented between bites of his burrito.

Roxas chuckled in reply. "I wanna go fall asleep in your bed. I got the Itis bad, man," he mumbled just as a yawn overcame him.

"Well," Axel began through his full mouth, "we have, like, four hours till we have to be places. If you want we could cuddle and sleep off the Itis together."

The blond took a moment to consider the suggestion. He didn't want to waste his precious time with Axel sleeping, but at the same time, having a nap all cuddled up together was something he wanted very, very muchly.

"Fine. Since you cooked, I'll do dishes and put everything away, okay? If you're not finished by the time I finish doing that, then we won't fool around at all when we wake up. And you'll have to get yourself off in the shower yet again. _Got it memorized_?" Roxas shot the redhead a smirk as he stood and collected his plate and glass so he could begin the task.

Being that Axel still had a way's to go before he'd finish the burrito as a result of having been so preoccupied eating in a sexy fashion rather than an efficient one, he began digging in at a much faster pace in lieu of responding. His enthusiasm made Roxas feel tingly all over. Sometimes it just surprised him that there was someone out there who actually found him attractive when he felt like a dork most of the time.

They were tumbling into bed together around ten or fifteen minutes later, mouths attached playfully once they landed. Both boys could taste the salsa on each other's lips and tongues, but neither was very put off by it. They giggled at nothing whenever they broke apart, the butterflies in their stomachs quite mutual.

The kissing eventually stopped and when Roxas opened his eyes again, he realized about an hour had passed and he was pressed up against Axel's collarbone with a pair of warm, strong arms securing him there. Roxas sighed in content as he was still unable to get used to feeling so safe and protected in his boyfriend's arms.

Being that Roxas couldn't see Axel's face, he determined that the redhead was still sleeping due to him mumbling quietly. Despite the fact that being in Axel's arms like this was nice, the blond had a hard time ignoring the horniness that began to pervade his mind. His excitement eventually built so much (helped along by Axel's magnificent body heat) that he couldn't lie there anymore and wait around for Axel to wake up. Thus, he decided to act and elected that running his tongue and wet lips along his boyfriend's collarbone was the best way to awaken him.

Axel began to stir almost immediately, and his incoherent mumblings ceased. He groaned a bit and the force that he'd held Roxas with lessened. "Ugh, Roxas?" he asked, voice quiet and a bit raspy.

Roxas chose to nip at Axel's neck at that point to express his current sentiments. He aimed for one of Axel's most sensitive spots, which was the space between his collarbone and Adam's apple.

The responding whimper and the shuddering of Axel's body as chills ran through the redhead's veins pleased Roxas. The blond refused to stop there, kissing at the junction of Axel's neck and jaw. This served to further excite and please the redhead, who let out a breathy moan and mindlessly pressed his knee up against Roxas' package between his legs.

"Ah, ah," Roxas breathed in response to the pressure up against his most delicate parts. The blond pulled away at that point so he could look at Axel's face, which he found to be glazed with pleasure. He grinned at his boyfriend, who lazily mirrored the expression. "Morning, Axel," he greeted.

"Morning, babe," Axel returned. He covered his mouth as he yawned and then removed his arms from Roxas completely so he could stretch. "So, we're just gonna get right into it, then?" he wondered as he stretched.

Roxas shrugged. "If that's what you want to do. What time is it?"

Axel responded, reporting that it was 2:30 and that they had probably two hours before they had to get going.

Roxas wordlessly grabbed Axel by the hair close to his scalp and tugged him roughly back down so he could kiss the redhead. He continued tugging on the older teen's hair even as they kissed, mostly because Roxas had a feeling that Axel liked that kind of thing. He let out a whimper when the redhead gently nipped at his upper lip and gasped when his tongue began exploring Roxas' mouth.

Axel's arms came around Roxas' torso, hands needy as they attempted to pull him closer, but only succeeded in stretching the blond's shirt. He moaned when Roxas began to compete for dominance over the kiss, which the blond used to fuel his actions. A growl sounded in the back of Axel's throat as he began to fight more fiercely for leverage. In pursuit of this leverage, he put a hand to Roxas' neck and forcefully maneuvered himself and the blond so he lay on top of the younger boy, pinning him down by his neck.

The rough hand on Roxas' neck made him whimper, and he realized they were acting more ardently than they ever had before. Consequently, Roxas suddenly grasped one of the reasons he really liked guys; they were sturdy and tough and wouldn't break if handled roughly. With this in mind, Roxas wrapped his legs around Axel's waist and caught him in a bone-crushing embrace as their tongues and mouths continued dancing together.

After a few moments, Axel separated his lips from Roxas' and gazed down at the blond through hooded eyes as he suddenly ground his hips down against the blond's. Both parties elicited pleasured moans in response and Roxas reciprocated the action a moment later after the jolts of pleasure had begun to mellow out again. Roxas loosed his grip on Axel as he hissed with desire before his hands slipped beneath Roxas' shirt, where they began to explore the landscape of the boy's body.

"Rox, you're so fucking amazing," Axel breathed heavily as the pace of his hand traversing the blond's skin slowed. With the use of his other hand, he pushed Roxas' shirt up to his collarbone, exposing his chest and stomach to the warm air.

Roxas had no reply for that, being nowhere near coherent enough to even form thoughts that made sense. Instead, his primal instincts led him to arch into his boyfriend's touch. He didn't even realize the small, satisfied mewling spilling from his mouth until Axel chuckled and pointed it out.

"You're so cute, Roxas," Axel purred. He placed a palm to Roxas' cheek and gently stroked the blond's face with his thumb. "The cutest."

"Not cute," Roxas managed to grumble back. To help prove his point, he seized Axel by the collar of his shirt and forcibly pulled him forward so he could attack the boy's neck with his mouth. He couldn't help but grin when Axel made a surprised yelp that turned into whimpers and sighs.

Roxas felt his hands begin to wander beneath the redhead's shirt. The clothing got in his way, however, and he began tugging at it so Axel would remove it, which he gladly did once Roxas gave him the opportunity to pull away and take care of it. Once the obstruction was cleared, Roxas took the opportunity to rake his eyes down Axel's body, licking his lips as he did so. Surprisingly, Axel seemed to be embarrassed with this newfound attention and his face reddened a visible amount.

"What's wrong, Axel?" Roxas wondered, his voice sharp as he pressed a palm to the redhead's chest. The older boy's heartbeat was very apparent under Roxas' hand and he grinned. "Your heart's beating really fast, you know. Are you scared?" he teased.

Axel scowled, but his overall demeanor was too sheepish for it to mean anything significant. "No, I'm not scared," he snapped.

With the grin still firmly planted on his face, Roxas dragged his hand down Axel's torso, digging his nails lightly into his skin. He paused to play with one of Axel's nipples on his hand's second circuit.

The redhead shuddered and gasped silently at the touch. Unknowingly, Axel leaned in towards the contact. "Roxas, touch me, please?" he murmured in little more than a whisper.

"Touch you? Where?" Roxas wondered, rather enjoying this role reversal. He'd never really had this much control over one of their sexual encounters. Usually Axel would simply take the lead, which was fine, but Roxas did enjoy this change of pace. It was also comforting to know Axel didn't have to be in charge of everything in order for them both to have a good time and that Roxas had the skill to reduce his boyfriend to this whimpering, quivering body of flesh.

Axel groaned something unintelligible but eventually swallowed what seemed to be a boatload of saliva and licked his dry lips. "Please just touch my cock, please, please, please," he begged.

Roxas took advantage of the redhead's weakened defenses and flipped their physical positions so that the blond was on top, knees digging into the bed on either side of Axel. He ran his hands over the boy's body a few more times before he began to heed his request.

Gently and very lightly, Roxas guided his hands down to Axel's more sensitive areas and massaged at Axel's inner thighs through his jeans. He took care to avoid the redhead's very obvious erection, making the redhead squirm and whine with desire. Roxas eventually unzipped the denim clothing and began servicing Axel's rock hard dick with a good coating of spit and a hand tightly wrapped around the organ. He reattached their mouths as he continued to pump the redhead's cock.

Roxas broke away as he felt his own erection begin to wane in his pants. He pressed his lips up against the grunting Axel's ear. "You better touch me back, you fuckin' slut," he growled hotly into the cartilage organ.

Without a second thought, Axel immediately followed his boyfriend's commands. He put his hands to Roxas' torso, fingers catching on Roxas' clothes as they went. Quickly, he undid Roxas' zipper and freed the blond from the confines of his undergarments. He used drool to help lubricate the endeavor.

Within a matter of minutes, they both succumbed to pleasure, ejaculating into each other's hands and even a little bit onto each other. Once they were finished, Roxas removed his shirt so that he could cuddle against his boyfriend's bare skin without anything getting in the way of his warmth.

For a long time, they lay there together in silence, both completely out of it after having experienced an intense burst of pleasure. Roxas smiled at how Axel traced invisible figures onto his skin.

"Roxas," Axel whispered after they'd been lying there for a little while.

"Hmm?" the blond hummed.

"I love you."

Warmth spread throughout Roxas' body and he smothered his face into Axel's neck. He felt positively weightless and had decided to anchor himself to Axel. "I love you, too," he mumbled back as a fire raged within his stomach. "What time is it?" he asked a second later.

"3:15," Axel responded with a sigh. "We should probably get cleaned up and then get going. You wanna take a shower?"

Roxas considered this for a moment before nodding his head against the redhead's neck. A vision of being pinned against the wall of Axel's shower entered Roxas' brain and filled it shortly thereafter. "Um, Axel?" he began, wondering if maybe what he was going to ask would be going too far.

"Yes?"

"Do you wanna maybe take a shower with me?" the blond suggested in a quiet voice.

Axel stayed quiet for a moment, which worried Roxas, before asking, "Sorry, can you repeat that? I think I thought I heard you say you wanted to shower with me?"

Roxas nodded his head as he felt his face grow ridiculously hot. "Conserve water?" the blond offered as a benefit of bathing together. He felt his face flush as sheepishness overwhelmed him and considered for a moment how badly he'd screwed things up in their relationship.

Fortunately, he was proved wrong a few moments later when Axel chuckled and separated from Roxas so he could stand. "Okay, if you're sure about it," he accepted, just as sheepish as Roxas.

Thus, shy, but both on board, the couple made their way to the bathroom, Axel bringing along two changes of clothes so they could wash their dirtied ones. Since Axel went to go take care of the laundry for them, Roxas entered the bathroom first, turning on the shower and waiting for the water to warm up.

Anxiety made Roxas jumpy and he could feel himself trembling slightly. He'd never seen Axel completely naked, nor had Axel ever seen him completely naked. They'd barely seen each other's genitals, and when they had the opportunity to, it was usually dark. But this was a well-lit room. The blond tried not to psyche himself out too much, but when Axel opened the bathroom door with an extra set of towels, he couldn't keep his heart from racing.

Axel closed the door behind him and locked it with an air of finality hanging about the atmosphere. He turned to face Roxas and the couple simply stared at each other for a few long seconds. Neither wanted to be the first to completely disrobe. They eventually began stripping at the same time.

Once completely in the bluff, the two boys had to spend a moment taking each other in. Both felt nervous and a little uncomfortable, but after a few moments of standing there gawking at each other and hoping the other wasn't disgusted by their own nudeness, Roxas couldn't help but break into chuckles. Axel joined shortly after and they had a good laugh over how nervous they were.

When they got into the shower together, both felt evidently more relaxed and eager to spend this time together. They enjoyed each other's company a bit before cleaning up, and Roxas discovered how water made everything much nicer. The way their skin slipped and slid over each other and the warmth and pressure of the spray added elements the blond wouldn't soon forget or take for granted. Somewhere in the beginning of their fooling around, however, they both had slipped, Roxas landing on his ass, and Axel lying on his side with his face hitting the other boy's chest. They'd laughed that off, however, and had continued on.

Despite the fact that messing around had been nice, Roxas couldn't help but enjoy the mutual bathing even more. Axel's hands scrubbed over his body gently, soap clinging to the ridges of his fingers. Meanwhile, the blond lathered up the redhead's hair, which he'd never seen completely down like this (and actually really liked it). He marveled at how easily his fingers threaded through the red mane and at how much shampoo and conditioner it actually took to wash Axel's hair.

They dried off individually, giggling to themselves and exchanging grinning faces periodically. Both had thoroughly enjoyed their experience.

Axel gave an especially satisfied sigh once they were all dressed. "Ah, Roxas, that was great. This whole thing is great." He smiled happily at the blond, who was poised next to him in front of the bathroom mirror styling his hair.

"Yeah," Roxas replied with a grin, casting the redhead a sidelong glance since he was a bit too busy to turn and face him directly. Before the older boy had spoken up, he'd been silently observing Axel has he fashioned his hair into spikes. It seemed his hair naturally stuck up, and he simply gave it direction and it enthralled Roxas. "Maybe one day we should live together," the blond murmured thoughtfully through the thoughts floating around in his head of making dinner with Axel, bathing with Axel, sleeping with Axel, and waking up next to Axel.

"Oh god, Roxas, stop it. You're gonna make me want that too badly and I won't be able to deal with it!" the redhead complained. "I already really want to marry you when we get older."

That snapped Roxas out of his foggy thoughts. At the very idea of the both of them in tuxedos in front of an audience of their friends and family, the blond felt his face grow hot. "Shut up, we're way too young to be talking about marriage," he grumbled, sharing Axel's sentiments about wanting it too badly. Plus, most high school relationships didn't last anyway, and this was Roxas' very first relationship with another guy. It was very possible someone could come along and sweep him off his feet. At least, he told himself that was possible. Deep down, he had a feeling that it could never happen.

"I know we are," Axel agreed, "but I just wanna share my life with you so badly! I wanna move in together and have dumb arguments about who takes up the most bathroom space and about who didn't do the trash and about who left their shit all over the counter."

Roxas smiled at that as he finished up styling his hair. He imagined doing each of those things and found it comfortingly easy to do so. "And then we could have makeup sex in our huge bed that's just for us. And you'd talk too loudly in your sleep and cut off the circulation to my arm and leg, so I'd push you over the side of the bed and pretend to be asleep so you'd think you'd fallen off."

Axel laughed and wrapped an arm around Roxas' shoulder. "You're such a little shit," he accused playfully before kissing him.

"But you like it," Roxas pointed out.

The redhead nodded as he resumed creating his signature hairstyle.

* * *

><p>Ten minutes later, the couple parked in the driveway of the Organization headquarters with Demyx and Zexion pulling up right behind them. The four boys convened outside, each carrying a bag or box with their pictures. Demyx had a suspicious-looking plastic bag from a grocery store which clearly didn't have pictures in it, but he seemed either not to hear or to ignore Axel when he asked what it was for. Marluxia's pink Toyota was already there when they'd arrived, meaning that he, Larxene, and Naminé were already inside.<p>

When the four boys entered the house, they found that Larxene, Marluxia, Luxord, Saïx, and Xemnas were in the living room playing Rockband on the large TV. Upon spying this strange event, Roxas' eyebrows lifted in surprise. He honestly couldn't tell whether the Organization already had this stuff or if someone else had provided it.

Marluxia had the little, electronic guitar, Larxene was on drums, and Luxord had control over the microphone. Saïx and Xemnas sat on the couch watching them with amusement apparent on their faces as the trio jammed out to Juke Box Hero, everyone doing just shy of adequate.

The moment the four entered the room, Saïx whipped his head over to look at them, a confused expression on his face. Xemnas, upon noticing his comrade's reaction, also looked over. Before he could greet them, Larxene was pushing through them, grabbing Zexion by the shoulder and hauling him off somewhere.

"Well, hello, there," the silver-haired principal greeted as they claimed seats on the couch.

Immediately after sitting, Demyx grinned at Saïx, who'd stood up curiously, forehead expressing that he smelled something interesting. "Hey, V.P., I got a gift for you!" he informed him, seeming more excited than usual.

"Uh-huh," Saïx responded distractedly. '_Resist the urge to sniff him. Resist. Resist._' "And what would that be?"

Demyx dug inside the plastic bag and pulled out a bag he quickly hid behind his back. He quickly stood up, surprising the blue-haired man and causing him to jump back a little bit. "Sit!" Demyx commanded, much to the surprise of everyone present. Marluxia and Luxord turned around to see what was happening.

Without a moment's hesitation, Saïx immediately sat back down in his seat, looking alert and determined, refusing to break his gaze with the sandy blond.

"You're really well trained," Demyx said with a giggle. Finally he pulled the bag out from behind him so he could toss it to Saïx, who caught it and quickly examined it before his face broke into a very uncharacteristic-looking grin. It was a bag of bacon-flavored dog treats.

Everyone in the room went dead silent in absolute shock at what had just taken place.

'_Treats, treats, treats_.' "I can have it _all_?" Saïx enthusiastically wondered. Upon speaking, he seemed to break the spell over himself. He glanced at everyone else before his cheeks turned a pink color. "Um," he trailed off, clearly too embarrassed to say anything. He quickly put the bag of treats down on the coffee table.

"Oh, it's okay, you can have some. I feel like we understand each other since we're both anthropomorphic creatures! I figure you've probably tried to suppress your natural instincts since they're not exactly human."

Saïx seemed a little touched by Demyx's words, but at the same time, his forehead expressed embarrassment and the desire for no one to know that he was still influenced greatly by the canine part of him. "Well, I don't eat dog treats. I'm no animal," he assured everyone firmly. "In fact, I'm quite offended at your assumption about my ability. To even suggest that I'm not human is quite rude!" the blue-haired vice principal accused.

Despite his protest, Demyx didn't seem deterred in the slightest. "You don't have to be embarrassed about the instincts you still have! I have weird instincts, too! Mine don't really affect me unless I'm in contact with water, but still! Since you're a land animal, I'd bet all the money in the world that hiding these urges of yours is eating you up! Just embrace them. It's not like you can expect someone whose body isn't entirely human to understand what it's like, anyway. Besides, what could a couple dog treats do? You know you want them. I know you know it."

Xemnas cut in here, putting a gentle hand to Saïx's shoulder. "Is it true? Do you really feel the urges of a dog?" he wondered, gazing curiously into the man's eyes. With his mind, he urged Saïx to be truthful.

With a roll of his eyes and a sigh, he conceded. "Yes, it's true, alright?"

"Well, that certainly explains a lot. I don't know why you'd hide something like that from even me. It's not as if I wouldn't accept you," Xemnas chastised.

Demyx eagerly picked up the bag of treats from the coffee table and opened it up, tossing two bacon-shaped dog treats to Saïx. "You're such a good boy, Saïx!" he cooed.

Surprisingly, instead of glaring angrily at Demyx, Saïx accepted the treats and the compliment with a small smile on his face. '_I am a good boy._'

Shortly after, Larxene returned with Zexion trailing behind her wearing completely different clothing than he'd been wearing when they'd arrived. Instead of the bulky, ratty clothes he usually wore, he had on an over-sized My Chemical Romance sweater with a white button-up shirt collar falling over the top of the sweater's collar and skinny black jeans that he seemed to be having difficulty walking in. He got barraged by kisses at the lips of Demyx. Roxas didn't blame the dirty blond for reacting that way; Zexion _did_ look absolutely adorable.

Eventually, everyone sat down to continue playing Rockband. Axel removed and went to hang up his coat at some point, and when he returned, the evidence of his and Roxas' fooling around was plain and visible on his neck. Roxas fought through his embarrassment and put up a strong front. He claimed he was just reiterating the fact that Axel belonged to him and nobody else could touch him.

Luxord seemed a little confused since he'd yet to hear about Roxas' true sexuality, but it didn't require any explanation. He seemed to catch on quickly enough. As the group of Organization members played together, Roxas realized just how alike and different Luxord and Larxene were and how they fit together as people.

The two were alike in that they were both blond, but their similarities went deeper than that. Luxord held himself in a similar way to Larxene, prideful and confident. He had a strong voice and seemed to know how to use it, but unlike Larxene, he had more skill in discerning when to speak and when it was unnecessary for him to do so. The two of them seemed to both have a penchant for promiscuity and both seemed accepting of their physical-only relationship.

On the other hand, they were also very different from each other. Luxord was more mature and seemed to understand concepts easier. He was also kinder than Larxene was and expressed his care more visibly than the blonde girl ever would or could. His sentences and manner of speech was more refined and he put more thought into his words before they came out, and when they did, they were well composed and insightful. He was more romantic in nature than Larxene, often flirting with everyone, calling people things like 'love,' 'ducky,' 'pet,' and 'dove.'

Even though both Larxene and Luxord seemed content with their current relationship, Roxas could easily see them becoming more than simply bed-buddies. Truthfully, he thought they could very easily get married in the future. He told this to no one, of course, simply musing silently to himself.

A few songs later and Xemnas urged that they start going through the pictures of everyone so they could be added to the wall in the main entrance hallway. Thus, they all gathered their pictures and albums and headed into the dining room where there was more space to spread out their pictures. Naminé appeared from the kitchen as they set their stuff down carrying a scrapbook of her own. Everyone else (except for Vexen), it seemed, had already been home, merely busy with different things. When everyone gathered around the table to go through pictures, though, _everyone_ gathered (except for Vexen).

Roxas liked looking at his friends' childhood pictures and found himself wishing he'd been part of that. They had so many pictures together, even starting from a young age, that he couldn't help but feel a little jealous. He easily enjoyed Axel's and Zexion's pictures the most. Zexion actually only brought school pictures, but Demyx had clearly known he'd chicken out, and had went to the Gallagher household to swipe pictures of Zexion when he'd visited his cousins every summer. Surprisingly, they actually had pictures of the two of them together, plus Riku.

Axel looked absolutely precious in his pictures, and exactly how Roxas would've pictured that they'd look. From his pictures, one could glean that he was not a very well-behaved child, and he found joy in the weirdest things. The other thing about Axel's pictures, though, was the fact that Reno was in some of them, and Reno looked like he couldn't have been older than his early twenties in a lot of them. He looked so much like Axel did now that Roxas hoped his boyfriend would follow his father's footsteps.

While looking through Axel's pictures, though, Xaldin buried his foot in his mouth so deeply that he basically had his leg lodged down the back of his throat. He'd joked around that Axel was a daddy's boy, and teased him a little for it, which clearly put the redhead off. Axel had explained that his mother was dead, which immediately made Xaldin backpedal. Then he commented on how young Reno looked in those pictures, to which Axel fired back, "Have you ever heard of teen pregnancy?" Wisely, Xaldin kept his mouth shut after that, even when the question of why Zexion didn't have any pictures with his own family was left hanging in the air.

The focus shifted when Xaldin pointed to a recent-looking picture of Riku and Zexion with their arms around each other and asked Lexaeus if that was the kid he'd beaten the tar out of the previous year.

Reluctantly, Lexaeus had admitted to the deed, sending Zexion into a rage.

"You beat up my cousin _while we were dating_?" he demanded angrily.

Lexaeus nodded in defeat, but quickly defended himself. "He was bullying me, so I stood up for myself! And anyway, it's not like I would have ever known he was your cousin. It's not like you ever told me anything about your family, anyway!"

"Oh, no, no, no, you're _not_ turning this around on _me_! And like you were any better than I was! At least you met my father and stepmother. You never wanted to introduce me to any of your family at all! And they even _knew_ that you were gay! But you still never even told them about me!" Zexion fired back without a second's thought.

"They would have disapproved of me dating anyone because they preferred that I focus on my studies! But they would have especially disapproved of you because you're way younger than I am! They would've thought I was trying to date a child. And they wouldn't have liked you anyway! I didn't want to put you through having to deal with them!"

"Oh, that's a load of bullshit!" the bluenette snapped back.

Demyx had watched this argument with a satisfied smile on his face, for obvious reasons. Roxas, on the other hand, was a little concerned about whether or not this was actually a good thing for the sandy blond. Sure, they'd been fighting, but the blond couldn't ignore how much it'd resembled a fight amongst lovers. It seemed a bit like they were still together and were just going through a rough patch. He kept quiet, however.

Through these pictures, Roxas learned a bit about his friends' pasts. Demyx didn't always have the sides of his head shaved, Marluxia really was a natural blond and had gone through a scene kid phase in middle school, Larxene had always been terrible, Naminé used to cut her hair really short like a boy's, Axel was a very misunderstood child, and Zexion was actually really, really close with his family.

Honestly, Roxas didn't know how to feel about sharing his own pictures. He hadn't looked at these pictures at all since he'd moved from Destiny Islands, and seeing them all again brought back such good memories. The situation was completely bittersweet. Plus, they were embarrassing! There were a few pictures of him and Sora kissing when they were really young, which _everyone_ teased him about. The majority of the pictures were of him and Sora, and that only served to accentuate the fact that the blond had not gone through puberty anywhere near as easily or attractively as Sora had.

After much debate, everyone settled on pictures to use for the hallway. Demyx chose to embarrass Zexion by choosing pictures solely of them two at three different ages, one being a candid shot of them at the Thanksgiving party that year kissing on the couch in Riku's house. Zexion returned the favor by choosing pictures of him with other people, but not Demyx. Larxene actually provided a few pictures of everyone, since she had photographed them all before. Roxas decided to use the one she'd taken of him when he'd hung out with the girls just a few months ago as the most current picture. It happened to be a really nice picture. Marluxia obviously chose the most extreme pictures he could, despite the fact that he really hated himself for going through that scene kid phase.

The group dispersed a little after the pictures had been chose. Xaldin and Naminé retreated to the kitchen, where Roxas figured they were probably making dinner if the smell of food in the air meant anything. Luxord and Larxene hurried off to presumably get in a quickie before dinner, Lexaeus tried not to give Zexion longing eyes as he most likely returned to the living room.

Saïx, Xemnas, Axel, Roxas, and Marluxia returned to the dining room after the pictures had been hung. Zexion and Demyx, despite being there physically, went into their own little word, whispering to each other, kissing, and cuddling.

At that point, Vexen finally made an appearance, entering the dining room. He looked different in some way, appearing much younger than he usually did. He had his hair down when usually he kept it clean and tidy in a ponytail and his face seemed somehow brighter. "Happy birthday, Marluxia," he greeted the pinkette.

"Vexen, what happened to you? You look really young!" Marluxia immediately observed as the blond teacher came to sit next to his pink-haired student at the table with an empty chair on the other side of him.

"Hm? Oh, well, on days when I have to present myself in front of students, I usually wear makeup to appear older. It's a tip I received from one of my college professors when I began preparing to be an educator," the blond explained. "It's not too complicated, and fairly easy to do, but I've learned that high school students will not respect someone who seems fairly close in age to them. Though I am getting older, and the need for makeup is beginning to fade."

Marluxia seemed absolutely outraged by this. "So you're saying that in all the time I've known you, you were secretly hiding this beautiful, young version of yourself?"

In response, Vexen rolled his eyes. "Oh, come off it, Marluxia. You wear makeup every day, but you don't see me telling you to take it off."

The pinkette scoffed. "I can't believe you've been lying to me all this time! And here I thought you were just really old-looking for your age!"

"Well, it's my belief that students should not be distracted by their instructors. If I were to look and dress more my age at school, it may distract the students because I would look like I just got out of college. Besides, you definitely didn't need any more distractions in my class. I'm quite surprised you made it through my courses unscathed," the blond teach admitted.

"Are you kidding? They were easy. Your classes are a joke," Marluxia snorted in return.

"Why, you!" Vexen grabbed up Marluxia in a head lock at that point, strangling him and effectively silencing him. There was a playful glimmer in his eyes, but with how good Marluxia was at acting, it looked like Vexen was legitimately hurting him.

"You two certainly seem to know each other quite well," Xemnas commented, making Vexen release Marluxia almost instantly.

"Of course we do," the pinkette began to explain, rubbing at his neck at the lingering ghost pain. "I've been in his class three years in a row. Well, except that this year, I'm his teacher aide. We're practically best friends now!" He threw his arm around Vexen's shoulder.

Marluxia's words seemed to put Vexen at ease, and he relaxed into his previous demeanor, fluidly shrugging off the pinkette's arm from his shoulder. "The only reason I accepted you as my aide was because no one else offered and it has certainly been a big help to me."

"Wow, you're so mean!" the pink-haired student said and then proceeded to pout. "And all that work you need help with is practically useless, anyway! It's no way to teach a class! You know what's useful? Making the subject matter fun and engaging so that students want to continue researching even outside of school."

Roxas smiled at their bickering. He liked that their relationship could be kind and lighthearted even if they were trying to conceal the real nature of their relationship.

"You're in no position to be criticizing my teaching methods, _Mr. Keith_. You don't know what it's like to be a teacher. It's not as easy as it sounds," Vexen countered Marluxia's condemnation. "You have to be able to present a lot of information to a large group of people and make sure they understand it. Not to mention if the class begins to get out of hand, or there's a lab day and a lot could go wrong."

"Perhaps you don't realize who you're talking to, _Mr. Price_. I am a master at crowd control, and I can certainly teach someone concepts, so I am convinced I could teach an entire class. In fact, how about I take over the next chapter after finals are over with?" Marluxia suggested.

Immediately, Vexen cackled at the idea. "As if I'd entrust an entire _chapter_ to you! Besides, you barely received an A in my chemistry class two years ago. What makes you think you understand the material well enough to _teach_ it?"

"That was only because I absolutely bombed the test on thermodynamics, and you know it! And I knew the stuff, you simply refused to let me re-take it because the only reason I failed it in the first place is because I slept the entire period that day, and you absolutely refused to wake me up! And that was a dick move on your part, but the point being is that I understand the material fairly well, and I can brush up on it. Come on, put your money where your mouth is, Vexen!"

Before Vexen could argue against Marluxia's point, Xemnas cut in. "You know, Vexen, it couldn't hurt to let him try. I'd be okay with it so long as it's only for one period. If things seem to be going wrong, you can take over for him, of course. But perhaps he's right. Maybe you should put your money where your mouth is."

Outraged by the fact that Xemnas was on Marluxia's side, Vexen scowled. "Fine, but only if we use the test that I made, and you _have_ to do at least one lab! Those are the requirements. Now, when you lose, you'll be owing me," he curtly informed Marluxia.

"What do I get if I win?" the pinkette wondered, unfazed by the prospect of losing. As always, he exuded much confidence, even though this was something that would genuinely be difficult.

"Whatever you want," he paused for a moment to shoot Marluxia a poignant look, "within reason. Nothing too expensive. _When_ I win, you will be washing my car, inside and out, understand?" The teacher grinned at that point and offered his hand to shake. "Deal?"

Marluxia nodded and grabbed his hand. "Deal! I'll be thinking up a great punishment for when _I_ win!"

"I doubt you will, Marluxia, so it'll be fun to watch you fail," Zexion chimed in, having found the ability to pull away from Demyx, who'd taken to licking and kissing at the bluenette's neck. He clearly couldn't be bothered to stop.

"If I fail, you'll fail the test, you know, Zexion," Marluxia snapped back at him. He happened to aide for Vexen the same period the blue-haired bookworm had him, meaning he would have an excellent view of everything.

Zexion shrugged as best he could with Demyx so eagerly pressed against his throat. "That's doubtful. I hardly pay attention in Vexen's class as it is," he shamelessly admitted, causing shock to appear on the blond scientist's face.

"I beg your pardon? How do you get such good grades in that case?" Vexen wondered, trying his hardest to ignore the boy attached to Zexion's neck.

"Oh, I just read the textbook and then pay attention in class when you're talking about something I didn't understand in the reading. Ah…!" he gasped somewhat sexually as Demyx apparently bit him. "Demyx, be more gentle!" he admonished the musician before he turned back to their conversation. "It's not that difficult to get an A, you know. The concepts are fairly easy once you get a grasp for them."

Roxas had to marvel at how Zexion and Demyx felt totally comfortable being so intimate in front of everyone while he could barely handle holding Axel's hand under the table without blushing. On the topic of Marluxia and Vexen's bet, he wasn't sure what to think, or who would win, but he did regret the fact that he wouldn't be there to see it unravel. He was sure he'd be hearing a lot about it, though.

* * *

><p>When 7 o'clock rolled around, Xaldin called everyone into the dining room to eat. Once everyone was seated, he, with the help of Naminé, began serving everyone what he called the first course of the meal, which Roxas found a little funny, but the original Organization members seemed not to think it so strange.<p>

Xemnas explained that on special occasions, Xaldin typically prepared a four-course meal for them all.

The newer Organization members were shocked by this, because all these dishes must have required a lot of food. It was definitely very good, though. It was much better than any restaurant Roxas could think of; then again, he didn't frequent restaurants that served this quality of food.

Dinner passed in a loud, celebratory matter and must have taken at least two hours to eat all four courses. The first course had consisted of a small Caesar salad; the second a light minestrone soup; third came the main entrée, a plate made up of macaroni casserole, chopped vegetables, and garlic bread; the dessert was a giant cake made to look like a perfume bottle. Xaldin explained that the cake shape was Naminé's idea and her creation for the most part. Maybe he thought Marluxia would get upset about the feminine cake, but instead the pinkette applauded both Naminé and Xaldin.

Following their extensive meal, they headed back into the living room where the gift opening commenced. It surprised Roxas that everyone had gotten Marluxia a gift that had some sort of value to it. He hadn't expected it merely because the Organization members hadn't known him for very long, but it made sense. Xemnas probably had some sort of birthday gift policy. The fact that Xaldin and Lexaeus had both gotten him $15 gift cards for iTunes and Macy's respectively supported this theory, providing a spending limit.

The only person who didn't give Marluxia a present was Vexen, but he promised to get the gift to the pinkette later, which made Marluxia very eager to see what it could be. His thoughts revealed that it might be some physically engaging activities, but Vexen's thoughts were elsewhere, leading Roxas to believe it wasn't going to be those fun things Marluxia was dreaming of.

Everyone else outside of Vexen, Lexaeus, and Xaldin gave interesting gifts. Naminé got him fluffy pink lingerie and handcuffs to match, Larxene gave him one of those homemade coupon books for various tasks which Roxas was sure were not all legal, Axel gave the pinkette a lighter and a pack of cigarettes. Marluxia seemed rather excited when he unwrapped Demyx's bottle of fancy cologne, Zexion gave him three books that the pink-haired recipient must've mentioned he wanted to read, and Roxas gave him a pocket-sized Rubbermaid-reminiscent tub of cute pastel erasers in the shapes of rabbits, frogs, cats, bears and dogs and a $10 gift card to Sephora courtesy of Sora, who not only knew about Marluxia's birthday, but also apparently shopped around in Sephora.

As for the other Organization members' gifts, Xemnas gave Marluxia a book, Saïx handed over a VHS copy of the film _Aladdin_, Luxord offered up a free massage at a local spa, and the best gift of everyone came from Xaldin, who gave Marluxia a gift bag containing nothing but gay porn magazines and lottery scratchers. This, Marluxia accepted with much laughter and appreciation.

An intense and very long game of truth or dare followed after the gifts. Roxas learned things about everyone he really wished he'd never heard, like how Xemnas and Saïx were in a relationship and had carnal relations on the silver-haired principal's desk usually at least once a week. Zexion also had to be stopped from taking dares every round, especially after he got dared to do the cinnamon challenge and seemed in especially bad shape afterward. Lucky for him, nobody asked him any really personal questions.

When anyone wanted information about Zexion, they'd ask Demyx whenever he chose to do a truth. That's how Roxas learned that one time when they'd been making out and things had been getting really hot and heavy, Zexion pulled Demyx close to him and whispered, "Come on and slam, and welcome to the jam" while making intense eye contact with him, which of course, made Demyx lose his shit for ten minutes. He actually lost his shit a little bit just reminiscing about it. Another highlight about the event had to be when Xaldin dared Demyx to give him a lap dance, but he twerked for the old man instead since he didn't know how to give lap dances.

At some point during the little game, Lexaeus became really sarcastic with Demyx, speculating that he would never have a successful musical career and even suggesting that he'd lied when he said he could play so many instruments. Zexion didn't intervene, but it seemed that his presence had kept the two boys from fully going at their arguing and when he left the room to go to the bathroom and Lexaeus and Demyx immediately stood and argued chest to chest.

"He still loves me, you realize, and he'll come back to me," Lexaeus assured him, towering over the sandy blond and clenching his hands into fists as he approached the younger male who was also advancing on him. "I won't rest until he's mine again."

"Well, that's just too damn bad for you, I guess, because now he's with me. You're an idiot if you think I'd let him go. Unlike you, I'm actually going to treat him right and give him things you never could," Demyx practically growled in response. Roxas had never seen Demyx so outwardly possessive, and honestly, the change in his personality as he spewed vile at Lexaeus scared him a little.

None of the adults interfered with the hope that they'd remain nonviolent and that maybe they'd feel better after they got some of the tension out of the way. The concern for violence was fairly low, however, because honestly it would be very dumb for Demyx to throw the first punch being that Lexaeus could probably snap him like a twig.

Lexaeus chuckled humorlessly. "He'll come running back to me. It's inevitable. It's obvious he won't be satisfied in a relationship with you." The confidence pouring from every fiber of the giant man's being seemed to piss Demyx off more than the words coming from his mouth.

"And what makes you so sure, huh? You don't know my relationship with Zexion. You don't know how we grew up together," Demyx pointed out. A blood vessel in his forehead looked about ready to burst.

"Because he'll always feel inferior to you."

Before Lexaeus could even continue, Demyx lashed out, "And what the fuck is that supposed to mean?"

"People like to be in relationships where they feel equal to their partner. I'm sure you've heard the saying, 'People accept the love they think they deserve.' Well, this is a real-life example of that saying," Lexaeus explained.

"What the fuck are you talking about? Zexion and I are perfectly equal in our relationship!" the musician sneered.

"It's not about being in an equal relationship, it's about being equal as people. Let's examine you for a second: even though I wouldn't even touch you with a ten-foot pole, you are fairly attractive, you look like you come from money, you're fairly outgoing so I'm guessing you're popular, you probably participate in a sport, and you do music, and you're apparently good at it. In addition to that, you're fairly confident in yourself, or at least, you appear to be," the brown-haired male began to elaborate. He couldn't get any further than that, though, because Demyx was interrupting.

"Just because you make good observations doesn't mean you know what's going on here! And before you even start to bash Zexion, because I know that's what you're going to do to make your point, you should know that he's absolutely gorgeous, he also comes from money or at least his family does and he used to come from money, he's pretty introverted, so it's not like he even likes talking to other people, but he still has his friends, and we're pretty close, and he's really good at writing, which maybe you don't know because he doesn't often share his stuff, and he's really good at singing opera music even though he'll never tell anyone about it, he's extremely smart and hardworking and he may not be the most confident person, but he's getting more and more confident every day now that he's not in a relationship with you anymore!" the sandy blond countered.

"Look, you fucking idiot, it doesn't matter how you see him or how anyone else sees him! All that matters is the fact that he thinks he's the shittiest person alive. He thinks he's ugly, annoying, talentless, worthless, useless, and tons of other terrible things that aren't true. Once you start thinking you really don't deserve to be happy, it's hard to break that and see the value in yourself, and that's where he is right now. Maybe he is getting more confident, but face it, he'd feel more equal with someone like me: less confident, smarter than you, socially challenged, well read. And now that he knows I've cheated on him, I've brought myself down to his level, in his eyes. And you can't deny that he sees the worst in himself. If he didn't, do you really think he'd cover up his face and bury himself into a book whenever possible and try to make himself so small he won't be noticed?"

Demyx had no response to that. He bit at his lip as he glared at Lexaeus. He knew Lexaeus was right about that at least. '_No, he may be right about Zexion's low confidence, but he's wrong about Zexion wanting to be with someone like him._'

Seeing his opponent's doubt, Lexaeus smirked and returned to his seat. "Besides, have you ever even heard him say 'I love you'?" He folded his hands in his lap, knowing he'd won this battle.

That seemed to drive the point all the way home. Demyx shrank back into his own seat. "It's hard for him to say things like that. He'll say it when he's ready," the sandy blond mumbled, not sounding as confident as he'd intended.

"How strange. I have," Lexaeus remarked quite simply.

Saïx warned them that Zexion was returning from the bathroom now and that they should probably calm down if they didn't want him to know what'd just taken place. Of course, neither boy did. Normally, Demyx would spill right away so he'd get Zexion's support, but in this situation the older man had injured his self-confidence and he didn't really want to hear that it was true that his boyfriend felt unequal in their relationship and had actually told Lexaeus that he loved him.

The mood brightened once they continued the game. Roxas had to reveal that the most embarrassing picture on his phone was the one Marluxia had sent him a few months ago of him, Larxene, and Naminé dressed up in lingerie. Marluxia and Naminé had roared with laughter at that while Larxene expressed distaste in the fact that the pink-haired boy had shared that picture with Roxas. Demyx also expressed how peeved he was over the fact that he had a "dirty" picture of his "innocent baby sister," which exposed the fact that he and Naminé were siblings to the other Organization members who didn't already know.

Xemnas had to attempt doing the worm at some point, but failed miserably, which drove everyone to laugh at him and his pitiful effort. Larxene shared some stories of weird sex experiences she'd had, Zexion had to prove he could fit an entire banana in his mouth when he revealed he didn't have a gag reflex, Axel had to put an ice cube in his pants and wait for it to melt, but that turned out to be a flop because apparently no one aside from Roxas knew that his fiery ability affected his body temperature, which quickly melted the ice cube without making him feel that uncomfortable. Naminé revealed that whenever Demyx or Seifer went to the store and asked if she needed anything, she would always respond that she needed tampons even if she didn't just so that they'd get embarrassed, and many other interesting things happened over the course of the game.

Of all the time they'd spent with the Organization, Roxas personally liked this trip the best, even if things had gotten tense between Demyx and Lexaeus. For the first time since they'd joined up, he felt like they really did belong together as one cohesive unit. He was finally learning things about everyone, even his own friends, that he hadn't known before and it made him feel all the more like he fit in.

When the clock announced it was around 10 o'clock, Marluxia informed everyone that they were going to Riku's house to spend the night and that they were going to further enjoy themselves there, which seemed to make the adults' eyes roll at the obviousness of what they were planning to do. Since it wouldn't be taking place inside the Organization's headquarters, though, they couldn't do anything about it.

Vexen also decided to leave at around that time, too, which made Roxas a little suspicious, if not for the fact that he'd notice the blond scientist send out a text and then Marluxia receive a text shortly afterward. His suspicions were confirmed when they were walking down the driveway and he told Larxene and Naminé to ride with either Zexion and Demyx or Axel and Roxas because he had "business" to attend to. Unfortunately for Axel and Roxas, the girls decided to ride with them after Demyx began making out with Zexion against his car before they'd even gotten inside.

Thus, the couple and the two girls started off toward Riku's house first since it was likely the highly affectionate couple would be taking a detour before heading that way.

As expected, they were the first to arrive and found that Riku was there and, luckily for Roxas, Sora wasn't. Not that the blond didn't want to see his brother, but he knew that if they started drinking at all, his twin would pitch a fit. Riku probably knew that, though, which could've explained why he wasn't there.

The five of them decided to chill out in the living room that led to the backyard, which was behind the one they'd been in on Thanksgiving. A half-wall divided the living rooms into two.

Riku had alcohol all ready to go and informed them that his parents wouldn't be back that night, so they had total freedom. Fuu was also home, which did put a bit of a damper on Roxas' mood, especially because she grinned creepily at him as he passed her while the group headed toward the living room. She knew that she scared him, and Roxas knew she knew and that she got a kick out of scaring him, but he couldn't help being terrified of her.

All in all, the rest of the night went great, aside from the fact that Marluxia looked thoroughly disappointed (as expected) when he arrived, and that Demyx looked like he'd been crying when he and Zexion arrived. They made the best out of the situation, though. They drank and laughed and enjoyed each other's presences until sleep claimed each and every one of them. It was the most fun Roxas had had in a while, and he definitely wished he could hang out with his friends like this more often. With all the shit going on, however, it didn't really seem all too likely. Still, he hoped and wished to be able to spend more time with his companions sometime soon.

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><p><strong>AN: **Oh lordy things are heating up, dawg.

Tell me what you thought, people! I'm really curious to hear your thoughts about this chapter. I can't really think of anything witty to say right now? Um, I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

See you around, yo!


	33. Cloud is Squicked Out

**A/N: **Hellooo everybody! I have returned from the dead to bring you the newest installment of I Saw it On Your Forehead!

Firstly, I just wanna apologize for taking such a long time to get this up. I've been super busy because I had to take care of a lot of college things, and I got a job recently and my weekends have been all filled with errands, family, and friends. I also just graduated yesterday, so there was a lot of stuff I had to do for that and award nights I had to go to. But you don't want to hear about my life so

Secondly, I want to thank everyone who's reviewed, followed, and favorited my story! It means a lot to me and I love you all each and every one!

Thirdly, I want to thank my lovely beta, Rugiku, for editing this chapter!

Fourthly, HOW PUMPED ARE YOU FOR KINGDOM HEARTS THREE I'M GONNA PISS MYSELF

Anyway, please enjoy this chapter!

Kingdom Hearts © Disney and Enix

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><p>Morning seemed to come quickly when Roxas blinked his eyes open and suddenly there was sunlight bleeding in through the blinds. He found himself and his friends sprawled out all over the living room: Demyx and Zexion cuddled on the couch, Marluxia spread across one of the other couches and Larxene the last one, Naminé curled up in one of the lounge chairs, and Axel and the blond himself on the floor opening of the living room spooning. Upon completion of his quick once over, Roxas realized that he couldn't see Riku at all, which made him a bit suspicious.<p>

Roxas ignored it, however, when he realized that Marluxia and Larxene were whispering to each other from their separate couches.

"I couldn't believe it, Larxene, it was absolutely fucking terrible," Marluxia was saying, disappointment clear in his tone. "I seriously almost broke down and cried in my car after it happened. And I have this sinking feeling things are going to continue being like this for a good while."

"Well, you signed up for this," Larxene pointed out. "You could probably still cut your losses, though. Do you really think he's worth all this trouble?" she wondered.

Marluxia sighed in response to the question, seemingly troubled over the answer. "I'm really hoping so. I don't want to have changed my sexual conduct for nothing."

"Shut the fuck up, ladies, there is something much more immediate taking precedence here," Riku's voice sounded, and Roxas realized the silverette was behind him and Axel. He couldn't turn back to look, though, since he'd decided to pretend to sleep.

"And what would that be, Princess?" Larxene's curtness expressed her irritation at having her conversation interrupted.

"Look at these goddamn babies sleeping in front of me!"

Roxas felt his cheeks immediately heat up very much against his will. He heard one of the couches shift under someone's weight.

"Aww, look at Roxas! He's blushing!" Marluxia cooed. "Come on, Roxas, drop the act, we know you're awake," he added a moment later.

Having been found out, the blond let his eyes open and he scowled in an attempt to drive away the color that had undoubtedly blossomed on his cheeks. "Shut up, shut up, shut up!" he whispered angrily at them. Normally he would've sat up by now, but Axel's arms restricted his movement and he didn't want to wake the redhead up because he made a very good blanket.

The two swooning seniors chuckled quietly but said no more. They conveniently left out the little detail that Riku had snapped a couple of pictures of them sleeping together, which would end up on the Organization's Facebook group page via Zexion with the caption 'Payback.'

Everyone woke up about an hour later and they just hung out there at Riku's house for a while. Roxas didn't want to go home and wanted to put it off for as long as possible. Thus, when Axel suggested the two of them go back to his house for a little while, Roxas gladly accepted the offer and they headed off after Riku provided breakfast for them.

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><p>Upon arrival at Axel's house, the couple decided to make out in Axel's bed until Roxas' parents started blowing up his phone asking where he was. They only managed to get in about ten minutes' worth of kissing and groping until, unfortunately, Demyx burst into Axel's room, positively hysterical.<p>

The sandy blond completely ignored the scene on the bed, far too focused on his freaking out to notice anything. Tears were streaming down his face and he was ranting and raving, but his words were too distorted by his frantic blubbering to be understood. Without regard for the fact the Roxas was even there, Demyx crawled into the bed and curled himself up under the sheets.

Already Roxas was upset at having his fun time ruined, but it only worsened his mood when Axel suggested he go wait in the living room while he talked to Demyx because he could tell it was just a polite way of asking him to leave. Even though he'd asked Roxas begrudgingly, it still bothered him that Axel asked him to leave so easily, clearly prioritizing Demyx over himself, which he felt both guilty and miffed about due to his feeling of entitlement over his boyfriend's attention. Nevertheless, the situation put him in a bad mood and he grumbled in irritation as he sprawled himself across the couch, turning on the TV, flipping over so he faced the back of the couch, and crossing his arms in a huffy way that definitely didn't qualify as pouting because pouting was Sora's thing.

As luck would have it, Reno would discover him like this.

"Oh? What's this? Trouble in paradise?" the adult redhead teased as he closed the front door behind him and removed his coat so he could throw it at the blond sulking on the couch.

"No. Demyx showed up all the sudden and I got kicked out," Roxas corrected him very snidely.

"Demyx is here?" Reno questioned.

"If he wasn't I can guarantee you I wouldn't be on this stupid couch." He let out a stressed sigh and rolled over to face Reno. "He showed up because he's probably having problems with Zexion, at least based on how loud he was sobbing. Actually you can hear him from here. How funny."

Reno shrugged at Roxas. "Yeah, that sucks. Anyway since you're here, I should probably take you home. Let me just check on Demyx and Axel really quick and then we'll go."

Normally Roxas would've complained, but he doubted it would get him anywhere since Demyx was still here hogging his boyfriend. Instead he just grumbled some more and sat up, turning the TV off. Sure enough, Reno appeared a few moments later and ushered Roxas to his car. It was at that point when he realized Reno's animosity towards him had dulled a little. As he was coming to realize this, his phone went off and he answered it with a grimace on his face, the ringtone giving away who it was.

"Hello?" he answered his phone.

"_Roxas Strife where in the god damn world are you?! Do you know how fucking irritating it is when you don't tell us where you are and then just fucking ignore our calls and texts? Roxas, do you understand our position at all? You're only sixteen years old, you've already run away once, and who even fucking knows whether you're even telling the truth or not when you say you're hanging out with your "friends"? Where the hell are you?"_

"I'm on my way home. Reno's dropping me off," Roxas replied, not wanting to even address the other things that had been spewed at him. It all just surrounded him like a fog of exhaustion and depression.

"_For your sake you'd better be telling the truth. Your mother's going to watch for you and if you're not with Reno and here within the next ten minutes, you're fucking toast. Is that clear?"_

"Yeah..." Roxas responded. The other line went dead shortly after and the blond buried his face in his hands, rubbing at his tired eyes. Already it almost felt like going to Marluxia's birthday did nothing for his morale. It may as well have not happened for how shitty he felt now.

Reno spoke at that point, pulling him from his thoughts. "I don't think I ever asked you. Why did you run away in the first place?"

Roxas pulled his face from his hands in order to stare incredulously at Reno. "You mean Axel never told you?" he wondered.

"Nope. He told me he didn't know anything. But I'm guessing he was lying."

The teenager nodded. "Yeah. I was fooling around with Axel on the couch in my living room and then my dad suddenly came home way early for some reason and walked in on us. He didn't know I was gay and I ran away so I wouldn't have to face him so unprepared but that didn't work out," he explained.

A hum served as a response and then it was Reno's turn for his phone to go off. He answered it and had a brief conversation of vague words before hanging up and flipping a U-turn at the next intersection without much explanation until he saw Roxas' brows quirked upwards in confusion. He grinned and stated, "Axel said you forgot something."

Roxas spent the rest of the ride back trying to think of what he could've possibly left at the apartment. He hadn't really had anything when he'd arrived. Still, he wouldn't complain seeing as it was an excuse to see Axel again that day.

When they did return and Roxas saw what Axel meant, his face turned bright red, if only because Reno was watching them. As it turned out, Axel wanted to give the blond a goodbye kiss and send him off with a fresh sweater of his. The redhead kissed him several times, which Roxas happily reciprocated, as well as a strong hug and an apology about Demyx.

A smile graced Roxas' face even as he sat in the car with Reno on the way home. He couldn't restrain the butterflies in his stomach nor could he keep a straight face whenever he thought about his favorite red-haired goofball. Through his partially disoriented state, Roxas did manage to vaguely hear Reno say that he'd tell Tifa that their lateness was his fault.

Once they pulled onto Roxas' street, his mood drastically shifted, especially when he saw his mother standing out on their porch with her arms crossed. From her body language, Roxas could easily determine that she was furious. He could physically feel a stone cold entity chase away all the warmth and happiness from his body. His face hardened and he braced himself as Reno pulled to a stop in front of their house.

Tifa stormed up to the car, keeping an irate glare trained on Roxas all the while. The earth all but shook as she thundered down the stone walkway in her high-heeled boots.

Before she could approach however, Reno rolled down his window and greeted her. He apologized for bringing Roxas home later than he'd wanted and said he'd stopped at a grocery store to pick up some food for dinner.

Tifa softened her gaze as she looked at Reno. She ordered Roxas to go inside and allowed him to open the car door and pass her before she turned back to Reno.

Roxas thanked his lucky stars as he stepped up onto the porch and turned to see Reno and his mother talking. He wondered what they could be talking about, but he just accepted the fact that his mother was probably interrogating Reno about what had happened. More than anything he hoped that the redheaded man kept quiet about their little detour back to the apartment.

When Roxas went inside, he found Sora sprawled out on the couch watching TV. He turned upon hearing Roxas enter and frowned at him in disapproval.

"You were with Axel, weren't you," he said, his tone completely lacking any hint of question.

"Well just now I was but it doesn't even count because Demyx showed up all the sudden and I basically got kicked out. How mad did Mom and Dad seem?" the blond wondered, though he was sure they were both completely irate. Still, with the way things had been going around the Strife household, he couldn't tell if it would be lasting or if there would be any real repercussions as a result.

They'd already given his phone back the day before he'd gone to Marluxia's party, they had no objections to him going to the party, and they hadn't even called or texted him at all until just a few minutes ago when Cloud had called demanding to know where he'd been. Everything was just so uncertain at that point. The parents didn't know how to treat this situation or how to treat their children anymore.

Sora considered it for a moment, turning back to face the TV as Roxas came over and sat down on his stomach. The brunet pushed him off the couch and into the coffee table with a chuckle before answering, "Hmm, it's hard to say. They've been super neurotic lately. Like, one minute I'll be texting and Mom'll see me and fly off the handle and yell and scream and Dad will come in and tell me that our family is literally falling apart all because of me texting, and then the next minute they're offering to take me to get ice cream." He paused to dramatically slap his hands to the sides of his head in frustration. "I can't handle them right now, Roxas, they're absolutely crazy!"

Roxas nodded as he sat next to his twin on the couch, who'd pulled his legs up to his chest to make room for the blond. "Yeah, I'd noticed that." He flopped over on top of Sora and wrapped his arms around his brother. "Sora, I just want things to be normal again!" he cried out, face muffled by his twin's side.

"Yes, I second that," Sora murmured disappointedly. He sighed as he affectionately rubbed a hand over Roxas' side. "But things are just gonna take a bit to calm down, I guess."

* * *

><p>Dinner that night was an awkward affair, as per the new norm. Roxas had been thoroughly chastised for "gallivanting about town" without informing anyone of when he'd be back. They kept mentioning his age as a reason for why he should be more careful, but Roxas failed to see the connection between the two. If anyone tried to harm him in any way and they weren't a minor, then if he decided to press charges, the crimes would be considered more serious and have harsher punishments simply because he <em>was<em> a minor. And if it was supposed to be a way to point out his inexperience, it still made little sense, seeing as they'd literally let him go wherever and do whatever he'd wanted his whole life. He had a lot of experience navigating his way and dealing with unfavorable circumstances and people. Not to mention the fact that he'd told them he'd be going to Marluxia's party and would be surrounded by other people he trusted.

Of course, Roxas kept these rebuttals to himself. The more he argued the longer they'd lecture him. Plus, he had a little bit of luck, seeing as Reno had decided to help him out earlier, which still confused him a little bit. Since he hadn't really been looking at Reno, he hadn't been reading his forehead for motivation that would explain why he'd eased up so much. On the ride back, it didn't feel at all uncomfortable or like the redhead really disliked him. The blond shrugged that one off for now, but promised himself he'd examine Reno more closely the next time they encountered each other.

Personally, he didn't know how to feel towards Reno. At this point, he didn't really hate the redhead, but he couldn't tell if he still irritated him or not. Although, in contrast to how he felt before, he didn't want the adult to dislike him and not just because that would complicate his relationship with Axel, but also because the idea of being disliked by Reno put him off. He didn't want that to happen.

As Roxas considered all of this during the silence of dinner, his cell phone went off, blasting out Pinkie Pie's smile song, which made the blond grin because he knew immediately it was Axel.

"Whose ringtone is that?" Sora wondered with his face scrunched up in confusion and curiosity. '_I didn't know Roxas knew anything about My Little Pony…_'

Roxas chuckled and tried to fight the blush threatening to bleed into his cheeks. Getting this giddy over Axel embarrassed him, but he didn't want to reveal this to his family at all. "It's Axel," he answered, trying to sound as normal as possible as he took a quick sip of his water and hummed along with the song.

"Answer it," Cloud ordered. "On speakerphone."

The joy inside Roxas vanished and he looked up from his plate to gaze at his father's serious face. '_This is something I have to see. I have to see Roxas interact with Axel._'

The thought made the blond cringe a bit, but the look on his father's face told him it'd hurt less if he obeyed commands. Butterflies fluttered about in his stomach as he pulled out his phone and answered, making sure to press the speakerphone option on the call screen. "Hey Axel, what's up?"

"_Fucking Demyx!"_ Axel responded without any usual phone-answering etiquette.

The dining room drifted away, and his family disappeared. Simply talking to Axel brought Roxas to this new realm where everything was fluttery, feathery feelings and pastel colors. "Oh, he's still there?" the blond guessed.

"_Unfortunately, yes. But luckily I have work in, like, thirty minutes, so I have a viable excused to kick him out."_

Roxas rested his chin in his hand with his elbow on the table. He could feel himself smiling at the redhead's voice, and maybe when he chuckled, he may have lapsed into a bit of a girly giggle. "Isn't it a bit late for you to be starting a shift? Like, from a legal standpoint? Because you'd be working at least until ten, right?"

"_Shhhh, don't tell the cops!" _Axel teasingly said, making Roxas roll his eyes.

"Anyway, is Demyx doing any better than earlier?"

There was a pause, which the blond guessed the redhead had filled with a shrug. _"Kind of. He always does this, Roxas! Always! He hears something that could be a problem and it always has something to do with Zexion. And then he just blows this little event out of proportion and breaks the fuck down and I'm the one that has to deal with it. He probably won't even talk about it with Zexion or ever mention it again. But, you know, since they're dating now, I'm pretty sure Zexion won't just let it go. He told me that he'd already cried a little in front of him, so Zexion definitely knows that Demyx is upset."_

"Zexion'll figure it out. He's smart, and he genuinely likes Demyx a whole lot. And even though you said he _always_ does this, I feel like you're exaggerating. It doesn't seem like this happens a whole lot," the blond responded.

"_It used to be a lot more common before they started dating, so I guess he hasn't done this in a while. But it's still annoying! He came and barged into my house and made me feed him and he fucking took over my bed and it's gross." _Just before Roxas responded, he added, _"But it's cute when you do it. And another thing: Demyx totally fucking cockblocked us without a care in the world!"_

Axel saying that sent a jolt through Roxas' system and he remembered he was sitting there with his parents and Sora at the dinner table and here they were discussing Demyx and their relationship a little bit. Roxas chuckled nervously and his face reddened as he hoped that nobody had heard that part. Upon surveying the table, however, it seemed that everyone had.

"Axel, I actually really gotta go. See you tomorrow!" he hastily said. Just before he could end the call, however, Axel stopped him.

"_Wait, wait, wait! Don't hang up yet, waaaait!"_ Perhaps it was the desperation in his voice that made Roxas stop.

"What?" the blond wondered, a bit irritated.

"_Love you."_

Roxas felt his face positively burning and conflict filled his head with thoughts and stomach with pain. If he didn't respond to that then Axel would probably get upset, but at the same time, his parents would probably get angry. But still, he _really_ wanted to say it back because it made him feel good in a way that was still foreign to him. He cleared his throat a little bit so he could actually speak through his embarrassment.

"Love you, too," he murmured before abruptly hanging up the phone. He buried his face in his hands after that, not quite sure what else to do with himself. He'd never been so open about anything with his family or ever let them see such an intimate part of him, and he'd wanted to keep it that way. From the bottom of his heart, he just hoped that they never put him in this situation again. He didn't like sharing this with them; he could just feel their judgment.

Silence hung over the family for a few moments as they let the conversation sink in. Many parts of their conversation probably piqued their interest or alarmed them.

Of course, Sora was the one to break the silence, as in most cases.

"Roxas," he said, "you're not really the kind of person to just say 'I love you,' right?" His voice was careful and sounded like he'd selected each word after careful inspection.

The blond shook his head in response, still hiding his face in his hands.

"And you don't like being openly affectionate or openly intimate, yeah?"

Roxas nodded his head.

"But you still told Axel you love him?" Sora sounded completely perplexed.

Normally, Roxas would be pissed at Sora for being so dense, but his embarrassment crippled him too much. Instead, he just wanted to be somewhere else. "I just… really love Axel," he managed to mumble. Finally, he uncovered his face, finally deciding to give into the masochistic curiosity festering inside of him wondering what his parents were thinking.

Upon gazing over his family, Roxas noticed that his father seemed particularly distraught, his mother was glaring down at her plate, and Sora looked genuinely concerned and confused. His father's forehead was blank, his mother's was very cluttered and illegible, and Sora's said, '_I just don't get it… How can Roxas love __**Axel**__ of all people? This literally makes zero sense…_'

Roxas couldn't handle the intense silence or tension that filled the air like cotton. He swallowed hard and blinked his eyes before clearing his throat and coming to a conclusion. "Okay, um, I think I'm gonna go spend the night at Zexion's house," the blond explained as he slowly got up from his seat at the table. Gently, he gathered his plates together, washed them in the sink, and went to got some clothes and his backpack together for tomorrow. Surprisingly—or unsurprisingly? Roxas didn't know anymore—his family didn't say a single word as he went.

Thus, Roxas spent the night at Zexion's house, where the bluenette's family welcomed him with smiles and greetings and the offer of snacks. Why couldn't Roxas' own family be as cool as Zexion's parents? Why was this whole situation a big deal with them? He supposed all this would be easier if they'd already been mean to him for the entirety of his life, or if they'd seemed really that genuinely cruel. But they didn't.

For the majority of his life, he'd always seen his parents as generally nice people. Sure, Tifa didn't like him all too much, but she _was_ nice to other people. And Cloud was always interested in helping others. These people who he'd grown up with, with whom he'd taken in birds with broken wings, with whom he'd helped lost kids find their parents, people who he'd witnessed helping others in car accidents, these people who he'd always held in high respect, especially for their kindness, suddenly turned on him. And honestly, even though he wasn't his mother's favorite person in the world, she'd never pushed him so far. She'd never kicked him when he'd been seriously down.

Now he didn't know how to deal with this horrifying side he was seeing from his parents. How could such kind people turn on their son? How could Cloud, the man who'd spent his whole _life_ protecting Roxas, suddenly not want to even talk or look at him? Roxas felt betrayed in every fiber of his being, and he wasn't quite sure how to deal with that feeling.

Zexion seemed concerned when Roxas entered his room, looking up from his desk, where he'd been writing. He probably said something to Roxas, but the blond didn't hear him. Instead, he just climbed into Zexion's bed, curled up, and fell dead asleep in the hopes that it'd quiet the whirlwind in his mind.

* * *

><p>When Roxas blinked open his crusty-encased eyes, he found his chin pressed against someone's chest, and he had a great view of someone's neck. At first his stomach flipped at the thought that it was Axel, but Axel wasn't nearly this petite and his red hair was usually everywhere by this point, and his skin was much warmer than this person's. The memory of last night settled over Roxas and he realized this was Zexion.<p>

Upon discovery, Roxas whined and pushed Zexion off the bed, mostly by accident since he forgot that Zexion had a twin-sized bed, not a queen-sized bed like Axel. When he heard the bluenette thump to the floor and jumpstart awake, Roxas's foggy brain couldn't quite comprehend what he'd done until Zexion was towering over him from the side of the bed glaring down at him, the possibility of murder twinkling in the shorter boy's eyes.

"Z-Zexion!" Roxas fumbled as he put his hands up in defense.

"I hope you fucking know you woke me at," Zexion paused his caustic hissing to glance at the clock on his bedside table for a fleeting moment, "5:37AM. And I hope you get hit by a bus because of this fact." Once he finished speaking, he re-entered the bed, shoving Roxas against the wall to make room for himself.

Feeling guilty that he'd pushed Zexion out of bed and confused that he'd woken up so early, Roxas decided to wrap his arms around the bluenette and cuddle up against his back, which was facing the blond.

When the bookworm didn't respond, Roxas adjusted them so that he was the big spoon and Zexion the little spoon, which he grumbled a bit about, but ultimately didn't resist.

A little over an hour later and Zexion was grilling Roxas about last night as they ate breakfast together and waited around for Demyx to come pick them up.

Roxas explained the situation somewhat briefly. He didn't really want to talk about it, especially since he didn't know what to think of it quite yet.

* * *

><p>Roxas sat with Zexion in Mr. Price's room as the teacher looked over some of the papers Marluxia had probably graded, if the smiley faces on the good papers were anything to go by. School hadn't started and they'd arrived earlier than usual because Riku ended up giving them a ride instead of Demyx, which seemed to concern Zexion, but he didn't say anything about it.<p>

Nobody had been at the vending machines, so they decided to come here instead. They all remained quiet until Mr. Price finished looking over the papers and rolled over to them in his desk chair, since they were sitting in some of the desks closest to his own.

Mr. Price leaned into the desk with his arms crossed on top of it and sighed before he asked, "On a scale of one to ten, how upset did Marluxia look when you all went to your friend's house?" Obviously he felt guilty about the situation.

The two sophomores looked at each other for a moment before Roxas replied, "It was at least an 8. Probably closer to 9. What did you give him, anyway?"

Mr. Price started fidgeting at that. "Well, I mean, I didn't know what to get him at all. When I asked him what to get him beforehand, he said he wanted… um… something that I don't feel morally right giving to him?"

Roxas and Zexion snickered at him.

"_So_," he said in a way that achieved an effect similar to clearing one's throat, "I got him a care package of cleaning products."

The moment those words left his mouth, the two teenagers exchanged incredulous, disappointed, and genuinely confused expressions. Finally they settled for feeling very put off by the idea.

"Mr. Price, I say this with all due respect, but you're dense as fuck," Zexion finally responded. "Only an absolute idiot would ever buy their love interest cleaning supplies as an honest gift. Even a gift card to the place you bought the stuff would be better."

At that point, Mr. Price laid his head down on his arms, covering his distraught face.

"Being told by a sixteen year-old boy that I'm an idiot. I don't know how to respond except by feeling bad. Do you guys think there's a way for me to make this better?" he wondered.

Zexion immediately jumped on this one. " Firstly, I'm actually fifteen; and secondly, the best gifts are things you can do together with your partner. Obviously having sex with him is out of the question, but what about a nice dinner or something?"

"I'm unable to take him to a nice place for dinner. I'd get far too nervous than should be socially acceptable for a man my age. Plus, I'm no good at dressing nicely or exhibiting good etiquette," the teacher replied, shooting the idea down.

"What if you had a sleepover with him?" Roxas suggested as he thought of the many times he'd stayed the night with Axel. He couldn't think of a single time he'd stayed the night at his boyfriend's place and felt disappointed. "No sex, of course," the blond boy added after a moment.

"A sleepover?"

"Yeah. Axel and I have them sometimes. We just hang out and he makes us dinner and then we just cuddle up in his bed and fall asleep. No funny business." Roxas mentally added, "At least, in most cases" to the last statement, but just kept that to himself. "It's free, you don't have to dress fancy, and it'd make him probably almost as happy as if you slept with him. I doubt he'd even care about what kind of food you had. You could have pizza and I'm willing to bet a lot of money that he'd still absolutely love it."

Mr. Price lifted his head as he considered this. "Perhaps that's what I should do. But I'm a little apprehensive about it because I have a feeling Marluxia won't let his… _urges_… down to rest. Not that he doesn't have self-control, but I know that he gets what he wants in the end."

One of the doors to the classroom swung open and Marluxia stood in the doorway. He yawned before fully entering. His thoughts expressed that he hadn't heard any of their conversation. "Morning, guys," the pinkette greeted them all.

"Morning," the blond and blue-haired boys greeted.

By contrast, Mr. Price got to his feet and seemed thoroughly nervous and guilty. "I have to head to office to get some things. You guys can stay here, but I'm locking the door behind me. I'll be back," the scientist informed them as he headed for the door Marluxia had entered from.

"Good morning, Mr. Price," Marluxia greeted him with a hardened look in his eyes.

"Hello, Marluxia," Mr. Price returned as he passed the pinkette and exited the classroom.

Marluxia watched the blond teacher as he left and then kept his eyes trained on the closed door where he'd just passed. He seemed elsewhere as he watched. '_I guess this is just how things are gonna be, then_.' When the pinkette apparently realized that Roxas and Zexion were sitting there staring at him curiously, his uncertainty melted away into a more commonly seen grin. He sat down in Mr. Price's office chair, legs straddling the chair and leaning against the back of it.

"Hey guys, what's going on?" he greeted them once more.

The two friends looked at each other before looking back at Marluxia and shrugging. Neither wanted to tell Marluxia about the conversation they just had with Mr. Price.

Zexion suddenly spoke up before an awkward silence could settle over them. "Does either of you know what's wrong with Demyx? He's been acting strangely since Saturday night, but he refuses to tell me anything about it."

Roxas turned his attention to his best friend, and when he did, he saw worry plaguing the bluenette's thoughts. It looked like Axel was right about Demyx and how he'd never bring up the problem himself. That was just too bad since Zexion definitely had a right to know what was going through his head.

"Maybe you shouldn't pry so much, Zexion. I'm sure he has a good reason for being so upset," Marluxia said. His unhappy mood tainted his words and even structured his curtness

Immediately, Zexion's face changed expressions, seeming very confused and worried now. "Well, maybe, but it's just that he seemed really down. I want him to know that he can talk to me, but I just can't do that. And I know that even if I do that, there's still the chance that he won't want to or will feel pressured to do so, and I don't want that. I just worry about him."

As Marluxia considered the situation a little further, he dropped the sarcasm and dry manner of speak. '_Come on, Marluxia, put it behind you. Focus on this right now. Not only is it important, it will also help you take your mind off of Vexen._' "Well, what happened on Saturday night between you two when you went off on your detour? Demyx seemed pretty upset at Riku's house."

Zexion shrugged in response. "I don't know. We just drove somewhere, made out, and fooled around a little bit. Nothing out of the ordinary."

"Zexion, if you want my help, I'll need details. Tell me what happened. You probably know what you did wrong. Now just admit to it aloud, because denial isn't a good look for you, hun," Marluxia explained.

After a few moments of hesitation, Zexion finally spoke. "He drove us to a vacant parking lot and we started kissing. Things were a bit more passionate than usual, especially for being in a car, but Demyx seemed very determined and ready to play around so I just went with it. He performed fellatio on me and then he started mumbling to himself and crying and he told me not to worry about it. And then we went to Riku's house."

Marluxia tutted at Zexion and gave him a displeased frown. "You're leaving something out," he sing-songed as he wagged his finger.

Blush overtook Zexion's face, but he scowled, clearly wishing it away. "Well, maybe I am. Maybe between the time he gave me head and the time he started crying he maybe said 'I love you.' And that may or may not have been the first time he's ever said it to me."

"You didn't say it back?!" the pinkette asked incredulously. "You love him, don't you?"

"Of course I do! What a stupid question," the bluenette scoffed.

"Then why the fuck didn't you say it back?!"

"Well," Zexion muttered as he began fidgeting a bit and floundering, "maybe because, you know, the last person who I, um, said that to, he, uh, dumped me? And he cheated on me, so, you know, now I'm just wanting to express my feelings more through action. Action is better, after all."

Marluxia slammed his hands down on the desk, startling both sophomores. "Then fucking _do_ _that_! Show him that you need him and want him. He needs to know that you need him. It'll make him feel absolutely great. Obviously you're not putting enough effort into your guys' relationship."

Zexion scoffed a bit, but didn't respond to that. '_I hate that Marluxia is right and I hate him for knowing it._' Instead, he asked, "So you guys don't know why he's suddenly acting like this, though?" He glanced at Roxas, who didn't want to tell him what happened at all. He didn't really want to get involved if he didn't have to.

Marluxia, on the other hand, seemed to have no qualms over it. "Lexaeus was intimidating Demyx and he used some very compelling arguments as to why your relationship with him won't last. I'm sure Demyx thinks he's right, so he wanted to try to prove it wrong by getting you to confess to him, but you didn't. Essentially, you gave Lexaeus' entire spiel legitimacy." The pinkette glared at Zexion as he said this all, not sugarcoating anything.

It honestly surprised Roxas a little bit how cruel and snippy Marluxia was. Even though he was upset because of Mr. Price, he never really projected his feelings onto anyone unless they provoked him, but Zexion hadn't done that at all. And it couldn't have been Marluxia's dislike for the bluenette, because he'd been telling the truth when he said that the thing he didn't like about him was his low confidence. Roxas thought that in this situation, Marluxia would want to help him in a kinder way to encourage him to fix things. After all, Demyx improved his best friend's self-esteem like nothing else.

Obviously there was something deeper going on here than Roxas even knew, which concerned him. Every time something like this came up, where he realized something was off and that it'd been hanging around since even before he came to Radiant Garden, he felt out of the loop and that he didn't belong there. Maybe he would ask Marluxia about it later, since he was more likely to talk than Zexion.

In response to Marluxia, Zexion made a growling noise out of irritation. "Stop acting like this entire thing is my fault. I didn't know what was wrong. I even tried to talk to Demyx about it, but he refused! What was I supposed to do? I don't know why, but he just can't talk to me about things like this, and it fucking sucks, but that doesn't mean it's my fault when things go wrong, Marluxia. You don't even know my relationship with Demyx, so shut your fucking mouth," he snarled at the pinkette.

One of Marluxia's eyebrows quirked up. "Really? You're going to act like a child? I was just helping you, you ungrateful little bitch. And what does it say about your relationship that Demyx can't talk to you? Maybe he doesn't trust you. Maybe he's even cheating on you, just like Lexaeus did." As he said this, Marluxia grinned maliciously, so Roxas punched him square in the chest, effectively stopping the senior and making him yelp in pain and surprise.

"Ouch, what the fuck, Roxas?" '_Baby, why must you hurt me?_'

"You don't have to be such an asshat, Marluxia," Roxas told him, but made sure to keep his tone more playful than accusatory.

Marluxia kept his eyes trained on the blond for a few long seconds, his expression much softer and somewhat affectionate. Then he suddenly reached out his hand and ruffled Roxas' hair. "Roxas, you're the cutest fucking thing! Ugh, Axel is unbelievably lucky. How come he gets all the good ones? All I get is some crusty, bitter man who doesn't know the first thing about people."

"Well, don't allow me to keep you from what you _really_ want, Marluxia," Mr. Price's voice sounded from the door next to his desk that led into the halls. '_Fuck, no, stop it, Vexen, you're just going to screw everything up again!_' Despite these thoughts, he rushed towards his office chair and shooed Marluxia out of it so he could go back to sitting at his desk. "And if I'm so crusty and bitter, why don't you just leave my classroom so you don't have to deal with it anymore?"

Marluxia's face went through a range of emotions, from guilt to outrage to hurt. "Vexen…" he trailed off as he approached the scientist from behind. He rested his hands on the educator's shoulders and began to massage his shoulders and back.

Roxas and Zexion decided that was their cue to leave the room and so they did.

* * *

><p>At lunch, things were only a little awkward because Zexion was still concerned about Demyx, but the sandy blond put on a fantastic, fake smile and acted like everything was okay. Marluxia also contributed to the awkwardness, if only because he knew that Zexion and Roxas had witnessed his fight with Mr. Price.<p>

The constant of drama in his life was all too much for poor Roxas at this point. He didn't know how much more of everything he could take, but he did know that Axel could help alleviate his stress with his presence alone. Thus, upon arriving at their usual lunch spot in front of the vending machines, he buried his face in the redhead's chest and groaned. As he did so, the memory of what'd happened last night at dinner filled his thoughts and he groaned even more.

"Aww, what's wrong, Roxy?" Axel asked with his smirk very apparent in his voice.

"I fucking hate you. You ruined my life," Roxas deadpanned, which was sure to concern the older teen.

"Huh?" The redhead sounded very confused.

Roxas groaned again and began lightly punching at his boyfriend's chest. "Why the fuck did you call me last night? And why during dinner of all times?"

"Huh? But I always call you around that time," the older teen began, confusion still very prevalent in his voice.

The blond interjected before Axel could continue, however, saying, "My dad made me answer the phone at the dinner table! And he made me put it on speaker phone! They heard everything, you little shit!"

Axel broke into a laugh that was more akin to a cackle at that point. "Not my fault you had dinner later than usual." The redhead pulled Roxas away from his chest so that they could lock eyes. Axel gave a playful smirk while Roxas displayed an angry scowl. "Aww, poor Roxy! You got all embarrassed, didn't you?"

Without warning, Roxas felt himself being flung to the floor away from Axel and another being moved into where he'd been sat down. The blond yelped as he fell to his side. When he finally gathered his wits about him, he realized that Sora was now sitting between him and Axel and that Riku had taken a seat to his left. He sat up abruptly and glared at Sora, who smiled innocently at him.

"What the hell, Sora? What are you even doing here?" the blond demanded.

Sora shrugged in response. "I just came to have lunch with my twin brother whom I love very much. And to keep Axel and his filthy hands off you. It's nothing special, just a little brotherly protection, you know?" He gave an irritatingly cheerful smile to punctuate his sentence.

"Sora, get the fuck out of here. You're being a total asshole. You're just like Mom and Dad," Roxas accused, much more outraged than he'd normally be in this situation. Sora should understand that he'd already been facing this kind of bullshit from their parents. He didn't need it from his brother, too.

Sora frowned at that for a moment before renewing his smile. "Roxas, I couldn't care less about the fact that you like sucking dick. I only care about Axel trying to make you suck his dick," the brunet informed him.

Roxas scowled at his twin and quickly went through a list of things he could do to make his brother leave. Eventually, he settled for something and smiled evilly, looking at Riku with great interest. "Sora, if you don't leave, I'll tell Riku about all your embarrassing secrets."

It took less than half a second for Sora to drop the sweet little act he'd been putting up. "You wouldn't _dare_," he stated as he narrowed his ocean eyes distrustfully at the blond.

"Hey, Riku, one time when we were little—" Roxas began but was very quickly interrupted by Sora slapping a hand over his mouth and wrapping a hand around the back of his head.

"Axel, Roxas secretly has an obsession with brown hair and he keeps this scrapbook consisting entirely of attractive brunets and it's the gayest thing ever!" Sora shouted over his brother, loud enough for the rest of Roxas' friend group to here.

Immediately, Roxas' face flushed deeply and he shoved Sora off of him. "Fuck you, Sora! That shit's fucking secret!" Overwhelmed by sudden rapturous anger, Roxas grabbed at Sora's neck, but the brunet dodged and ended up on his back with Roxas on top.

Instead of admitting defeat, however, Sora headbutted Roxas in the chin and crawled out from underneath him. Unfortunately for him, Roxas recovered from the attack quickly enough to slam him up against the vending machine. Before Sora could react, Roxas hastily went to press his fingers into the back of Sora's thigh, causing the brunet to cry out.

Roxas immediately turned his head so he could look at Riku, even as Sora began protesting with a chorus of no's. "Sora has a sensitive spot on the back of his leg. It's one of his _erogenous zones_," he revealed, putting much emphasis on the last two words so as to arouse Riku's interest (among other things).

"Roxas!" Sora scolded, completely flabbergasted and a bit embarrassed.

But Roxas' work here was done, so he shrank back to reclaim his seat next to his boyfriend and let nature take its course. It did take its course, because within a few short moments, Riku was on his knees advancing towards Sora, who was wholeheartedly waving his hands so the silverette would stay away.

"Riku, stop. No. Riku! Do not touch me there! No, stop!" Sora pleaded, trying to sound commanding, but missing the mark and landing somewhere between scared and embarrassed.

Riku was too focused to heed or even acknowledge the protests of his boyfriend, and he easily made it past Sora's pitiful defense of hands. It was very clear to everyone when he finally pressed against Sora's special spot because the brunet moaned in such a way that for a second, Roxas feared that Riku had just grabbed Sora's cock and begun stroking it with the skillful grip of a sex god.

The moan silenced everyone within a five foot radius for a few moments, many blushing and feeling secondhand embarrassment (or arousal in others' cases). No one was more embarrassed than Sora, of course, whose every inch of exposed skin turned red as he Sparta-kicked Riku in the nuts and then exploded to his feet to awkwardly hurry away, something clearly impeding his movement.

Riku fell forward (since he was already on his knees) and flattened his forehead against the floor as he grasped at his suffering genitals. And it was at that point that everyone who'd witnessed it, which just consisted of the high school Organization members, broke out into uproarious laughter.

Having witnessed that moment really made Sora's earlier exposal of Roxas' secret obsession with brunets worth it. In fact, the blond found himself and Axel leaning against each other in their fit of laughter so powerful it transcended the traditional ha's and hee's of laughter, instead coming out as squeaks and breathing.

"How is it possible that such a perfect human being exists?" Riku hissed through his pain. "I fucking love Sora," the silverette said, seemingly swooning even through his discomfort. Of course he collected himself and sprinted after Sora the millisecond the pain in his genitals lessened enough for him to do so.

* * *

><p>"Alright, so before we begin, I just want to recap the last session a bit so we can talk about it a bit," Mrs. Bates prefaced as the Strife family settled into the seats, Sora and Roxas took the couch where Sora made himself comfortable and curled up against his twin while his parents tried to look on unperturbed in their separate lounge chairs.<p>

The psychiatrist quickly ran down a list of the things that had happened and been said in the last session before she looked up from her clipboard and rested her hands in her lap. "Now, what I'd like to do is analyze the events and words said last session, and I'd like to start with you, Tifa. Tell me what it's like for you to be sitting in here. Why do you think you felt the need to answer questions for everybody?"

"What is it like to be sitting here?" Tifa echoed as anger very oozed out of every pore of her skin. "It's fucking bullshit! My family does not need the help of some quack to fix our problems! I've worked my ass off since I graduated college so I could provide for this family and raise it, and now I'm being told that all my work hasn't been good enough and that I'm _wrong_ about how I'm going about it!" She continued to go on for a few minutes, ranting about how much of an outrage this entire situation was.

Mrs. Bates listened patiently while everyone else cringed and crumpled inwardly. Luckily, the psychiatrist stopped her before too long and asked if she was happy to ignore her family's distress for her own personal comfort. Though she said it in a very neutral voice, Tifa took it as accusatory. She couldn't yell and scream about it, though. She was rendered speechless and just kind of sat there thinking about it. Something must've clicked in her brain.

This whole event filled Roxas with hope. Even though getting Tifa to accept that there were problems in their family was the first rung on a very long ladder, it gave him the impression that things might actually work out.

Unfortunately, they didn't make much progress for the rest of the session. Mrs. Bates had moved on to ask Cloud some questions, but he gave very little in response. Tifa ended up trying to answer questions for him again, but that didn't lead to anything productive. Cloud just seemed still in shock of the state of their family to the point where thinking about it wrapped his mind around a pole and talking about it was just out of the question.

On a more pleasant note, after the session was over and after the Strife family returned home, Cloud approached Roxas and asked if he'd like to go out after school the following day and have a little father-son time, especially since Roxas was in the middle of finals and the younger blond could probably use some time to unwind. With finals going on, Roxas got out of school at around noon, so this meant he and his father would have ample time to do as they pleased.

Roxas accepted the invitation and then asked if Sora was coming too.

Cloud shook his head and explained it'd just be the two of them. Tifa was planning to take Sora out the next day, too, so it all worked out.

The entire thing seemed a little fishy to Roxas. It made more sense for them to all hang out together, or for at least Roxas and Sora to both hang out with one parent at a time. Instead, each parent was taking their favorite child. Roxas didn't voice his suspicions, but he certainly felt them weighing on his mind.

* * *

><p>Ultimately, the fun time Cloud had planned for them was a game of paintball at this obstacle course built for that purpose. He and Roxas were on the same team against three other two-people teams, and honestly, Roxas couldn't say if he had a good time or not.<p>

On the one hand, Roxas was not exactly physically fit and felt like he'd die half the time. He also had some nice-sized welts marring his skin sporadically. On the other hand, Cloud seemed to genuinely enjoy himself, and it made him more comfortable talking to Roxas. His thoughts didn't surround his son's sexual orientation, which pleased the blond. Well, at least until the very end when he and Roxas were sitting in the lobby with cold waters taking a few minutes to relax before they left to go home.

They sat in adjacent chairs. Roxas had his eyes trained on the ground, but he could feel his father looking at him.

"So, you're dating Axel?" Cloud murmured after the lobby had vacated, guests having left and the employees off somewhere else.

Roxas mentally braced himself for the conversation he was about to have with his father. "Yup," he answered once he was sure that he couldn't be more certain. To help subtly express his displeasure in the conversation, the teen pulled out his phone and began fake texting so as to appear uninterested and uncommunicative.

"Put your phone away before I take it away," Cloud immediately commanded, effectively ruining Roxas' only protection against this discussion. Upon seeing his son fulfill his request, the adult continued on. "Tell me what's so good about Axel. Why are you dating him?"

Very much against his will, Roxas felt his face heat up. He didn't like talking about mushy things. Especially not with his father. He very much preferred to keep this sort of thing to himself. "Um, well," he chuckled nervously and scratched at the back of his neck. "Axel's just really cool. We get along really well and our humor's the same."

In response, Cloud hummed. He shifted a bit in his seat, and when Roxas finally turned to look at his father, he saw the blond man sitting back against his chair with his arms crossed as he thought about this. He then locked eyes with his son. "But what else? You have friends that have the same sense of humor, so why are you dating _him_?" '_I just gotta see if he can give me some sort of sign of lovesickness. I can't take his relationship seriously if he has none_.'

"Dad," Roxas whined, "are you really gonna make me say embarrassing shit?" Even without having read his father's forehead, Roxas had a feeling that this is what the conversation would be about the moment they started talking about it.

"Yes, son. I am. Now please continue." The father grinned at his son.

Roxas groaned and buried half of his face in one of his hands. "Fine. Axel is the bee's knees. He's the cat's pajamas. He's the big man on campus in my opinion. His personality is the fucking best and he's literally the coolest guy I know. And, well, I know you don't really want to hear me talk about this stuff, which is understandable because a father doesn't typically ask for information from his son about this, but he's really fucking hot. He's got a great body and the best hair and I fucking love his eyes. And whenever we hang out or talk or if we just pass each other or see each other in the halls at school and he waves and smiles at me, my fucking insides turn to butter and it feels like my stomach took ecstasy. There, is that embarrassing enough for you?"

Cloud laughed at that and wrapped an arm around his son. "I guess."

"Um, Dad, does this mean you're okay with me dating him?"

Upon hearing the question, Cloud stopped laughing and gazed at his son for a few seconds. He smiled good naturedly and ruffled Roxas' hair. "Well, it squicks me out that Axel is a boy and that you're dating a boy. But I can't tell you no if you're really in… like with him. Maybe I just need time. I don't know. I think I'm okay with the idea of you dating a _person_ named Axel."

Somehow, Roxas didn't feel the sense of victory that he would've hoped. He knew his dad was just trying to understand and that he was going through a big bout of shock, but he still couldn't help the displeasure that laced itself over his tongue. The blond just felt disappointed.

* * *

><p>Finals week dragged on in a blur of unpleasantness. On the bright side, the blond was looking forward to a party at Demyx's house on Friday. It wasn't going to be a school-wide affair, however.<p>

Apparently, Seifer was going to a party with Rai and Fuu that night, meaning that the house would be empty. Therefore, Demyx decided to throw a party to celebrate the end of the semester just amongst themselves, but Roxas knew he was also secretly using it as a means of messing with Lexaeus. The Organization was invited, and Roxas knew that was solely because Demyx wanted to show his wealth off to Lexaeus as means to exert some sort of power over him.

Along with the Organization, though, Demyx also invited Sora and Riku, which concerned Roxas seeing as there would be faculty members from their school going to this party. Riku knew enough to not question everything, and while Sora was good for overlooking something once or twice, he did eventually catch onto things. Roxas thought that was a bit risky, but Demyx insisted it'd be fine. Surprisingly, even Xemnas was alright with it if Sora and Riku were there.

On unrelated notes, the Strife family therapy session yielded nothing of significance that Thursday and Roxas was actually quite unsure of Zexion and Demyx's and Marluxia and Mr. Price's relationship troubles. He had no idea if they were still having problems, mostly due to the fact that he and Zexion had been cramming during any and all free time they had, and Zexion didn't really bring it up. In fact, Roxas practically moved in with the bookworm the entire week of finals.

Back to the party and all things party related, Roxas was actually quite looking forward to the arrival, mostly because Lexaeus had beaten up Riku the previous year and now they'd both be attending the same party. Riku promised that he'd get his revenge on the human boulder, but he also promised to do it in a humane way. Nobody really knew what that entailed, but it was sure to be a treat.

When school ended Friday, everyone went directly from the school to Demyx's house where they ran around the house in a game of tag. Everyone looked to be feeling really good about having the party, and Roxas was surprised to find himself having fun even though Sora was there. Not that he didn't like having his twin around; it was just that he found himself putting more pressure on himself to make good decisions, consequently sucking all the life and fun out of him. Today, though, he chased Sora through the mansion shouting at his twin, who squealed as he sprinted away.

As luck would have it, Xigbar, Luxord, Xaldin, and Lexaeus were the first of the Organization members to arrive. As Demyx had hoped, Lexaeus (and the others) were overwhelmed at the size and beauty of his house. They didn't get much time to look around, though, because everyone filed into the romping room to get this whole Riku and Lexaeus business squared away. They moved the couches around the room so that they would have space in the middle.

Lexaeus put on a brave face, but Roxas knew he was terrified, especially because Zexion was sitting there and would be watching.

Riku took a seat in one of the couches, which they'd moved temporarily, and Lexaeus took a seat in the couch opposite him so that they faced each other.

"Before we begin, I'm going to explain how this is going to work," Riku prefaced as he composed himself in his seat. "I'm going to explain why you were wrong about what you did, and then I'm going to exact revenge. Got it?"

Lexaeus looked a bit confused. "How was I wrong? You were laughing at me, so I pummeled you. It was high school."

Riku's eyes blazed, but that was the only indication of his anger. "No. You're misremembering what happened. I wasn't laughing at you. I was making fun of Zexion to my friend, Kairi. I called him a faggot, I think, and then you came up from behind me and got me in a headlock and told me never to refer to him as that again and then proceeded to hit me even after I tried to explain. So let me explain what actually happened: I was making fun of Zexion because he's my cousin and that's what family members to do one another. And then you must've overheard me calling Zexion a faggot and you got very upset. You lifted me by the collar of my shirt and punched me out when I tried to explain the situation. So now that you know how it _actually_ went down, I can get my revenge."

Both boys stood up and faced each other off.

Lexaeus really didn't seem to have been prepared at all for when Riku suddenly kneed him in the groin and then punched him in the face as the giant bent over.

The crowd of spectators 'ooh'ed.

"The knee was for me, and the punch was for Zexion," Riku explained as he composed himself once more aside a toppled-over Lexaeus.

After that was all taken care of, Demyx proceeded to flood the house with music from an extremely impressive sound system and they hung around with each other and talked, mostly waiting for the other Organization members to arrive.

The entire night passed in a joyful blur for Roxas, except for a strange talk they had after everyone had arrived. Demyx went to show Sora where the bathroom was, and that was when Xemnas folded his hands in his lap and locked eyes with Riku.

"So, how much do you know? It's quite clear Sora is clueless, but you know more than you're letting on," the principal pointed out.

Riku grinned at this, and Roxas could tell the silverette very much enjoyed the attention of everyone on him. "Well," he began as he crossed one leg over the other and leaned back into the couch with his elbows up along the top of the plush device, "I'm not saying I _know_ anything. I just notice a lot of strange things. I guess you could say I'm fairly observant."

Xemnas narrowed his eyes at the teen, not entirely comprehensive of what that meant. "Please elaborate," he commanded.

"Well, like I said, I just notice a lot of things people don't really notice. Like, I notice that Zexion's mom isn't around anymore because she used to see things that weren't really there. And now he can easily lift more than he should be able to, especially with how much bad food he eats and how little exercise he gets. I notice that Roxas always knows way more about everyone than he ever lets on. I notice that Axel's natural body temperature is inhumanly warm and that things catch on fire when he's mad, and that the lighter he carries around to explain it has been out of lighter fluid for years. Whenever I had sex with Larxene, the entire room was absolutely filled with static electricity and getting shocked was a given whenever sleeping with her. And sleeping with Marluxia is always inhumanly satisfying even though his technique could use work."

At this, Marluxia interjected, "Hey, my technique is great!"

Riku chuckled at that. "Anyway, Naminé always knows weird things about people that nobody's ever told her, and Demyx can swim much faster and better than he does on swim team and in polo. He always holds back for some reason. As for the rest of you, I don't know you all that well, but I do know that whenever Mr. Price would lecture us in Chem AP and Bio AP, there always seemed to be storms on his angriest days every time without fail. Mr. Thornton, you always smell everyone very secretively. As for you, Mr. Diskin, children are extraordinarily obedient to you."

The silverette sat up a bit straighter and shrugged. "But like I said, I don't _know_ anything. I'm just very observant. I'm the kind of person that just knows things about everyone. You can ask anyone."

Xemnas took a moment to think about the answer he'd just received. "None of that will be an issue, will it?"

Riku snorted and shook his head. "No way. I'm no rat. I'm cool with just hanging out. Honestly, I don't even care."

"Riku, what did you even tell Sora about all this? Sora's not exactly perceptive, but even he starts to question things by a certain point," Roxas wondered, still a bit confused about why his twin had said next to nothing about their principal, vice principal and one of the science teachers from their school hanging out with them.

"Oh, I didn't really tell him anything. I just told him some faculty from our school kind of hang around you. He thought it was weird, but he said it was better than you hanging around Axel. I doubt he'll question it. Sora's cute the way he just butts out of people's business."

Axel grumbled to himself as he buried his face into Roxas' neck.

The partying continued on even after that.

Undoubtedly the only complaint Roxas had was that Sora kept trying to keep him away from Axel and vice versa, but he eventually decided to give up and just enjoy the party with Riku and everyone else. They basically just hung around with everyone, playing games like tag or even the newlywed game, in which Roxas realized he still had a lot to learn about Axel. They spent a lot of time talking, and at one point, they even all went out in the freezing cold weather and had a water fight around and in the pond the Almasys had in their expansive backyard, at which point Zexion then decided to sneak off and return to chase everyone around on an ATV he took from the garage.

Everything seemed totally crazy and spontaneous and energetic, which Roxas found surprising since everyone had been sober. Everyone seemed to have thoroughly enjoyed themselves, even the adults and Lexaeus despite his earlier trauma.

They were all together until about one in the morning, at which point, Saïx, Vexen, and Xemnas decided to head on home. Everyone else just kind of passed out wherever they did in the Almasy household, some in beds, others in couches and chairs, and some on the floor.

Roxas head ached with fatigue as he dug his fingers into Axel's shirt as they lay on a king-sized bed in one of the guest rooms. Apparently, whenever Axel slept over at the Almasy house, he always slept in this room, so he had a few articles of clothing in the closet and drawers and some of his toiletries in the attached bathroom. Thus, the room smelled very much like Axel's room, which Roxas quite enjoyed.

The redhead tried to put the moves on Roxas, but he was just too tired to reciprocate, so they just cuddled up together and let sleep carry them away.

* * *

><p>In the morning, the regular group plus the Organization members who'd stayed over all went out for breakfast at IHOP. The affair was mostly uninteresting, as mostly everyone was still tired from the night before and grumpy due to hunger.<p>

Cloud and Tifa seemed surprised when Sora and Roxas came home together, seeing as that rarely happened. They seemed a bit more okay with them being out overnight because they were together. Roxas had mixed feelings about it, but he was glad that his parents wouldn't start yelling and screaming like last time.

On Sunday around noon, Roxas got a text from Vexen asking him to come alone to the Organization headquarters. The message didn't include an explanation, just that request, which put the blond a little on edge, but he heeded the request anyway, much to the chagrin of his parents who'd hoped he'd just stay home for the rest of the weekend.

So at around 12:13, Roxas found himself sitting in the private living room that he and Zexion had been in when they explained why Larxene and Marluxia had been fighting. He sat in the pink couch while Vexen took the lounge chair, poised with a clipboard and pen in hand. Upon arrival at the headquarters, Roxas took notice of the fact that nobody else was there. An almost eerie silence hung about the house.

"Something I can help you with, Vexen?" the teen wondered, honestly a little worried about the situation.

Vexen smiled and adjusted into a more comfortable position on the chair. "Yes, I actually called you here so that I could talk privately with you about your ability. I've already talked to the others privately. I'd asked that they not talk about the conversations I had with them, mostly because I didn't want to scare anyone away by making this sound like a therapy session. Anyway, I'll just be asking you a few questions about your ability, so please just answer truthfully." He poised himself for writing.

Although it was a bit unexpected, Roxas wasn't all that surprised. Actually, he was more surprised by the fact that it'd taken Vexen so long to get to him.

"Please describe your ability to me," the teacher requested.

"Well, when people think things in word form, I can see what they're thinking. It's only that useful when trying to determine if someone is lying, because most of the time people just have boring thoughts that aren't always coherent," Roxas responded.

Vexen took a second to jot something down, not looking up when he asked his next question: "What are the drawbacks or weaknesses of your ability?"

Roxas took a moment to think about this one before answering, "Well, I can't see when people think in pictures or in different languages. Also, sometimes people get really passionate or surprised or shocked, and when that happens, I can't read their minds. It's kind of like when you're in a situation where your mind goes blank. Also, when people's thoughts are really muddled or angry or sad, sometimes they have thoughts, but they have so many or are so messy that they aren't that legible. A drawback is that sometimes I forget things that people have actually told me or things I've seen on their foreheads before, so sometimes it confuses people when I seem to know more than they remember telling me."

"Alright, so when you see words on people's foreheads, what kind of writing is it? What font? What about size? Does size matter?" the blond teacher questioned as he scribbled furiously away on his clipboard.

"Oh, well," Roxas took a moment to think about it before looking up at Vexen's forehead. He honestly hadn't paid attention to the type of writing before. "Well, it's different for everyone. They're not, like, computer fonts. You wouldn't be able to find them in Microsoft Word or anything. I think they're written in the person's handwriting. Like, your forehead is covered in your own writing. I think maybe that makes it all the more secret, and probably what makes it difficult to read someone's mind sometimes. Like, Demyx's thoughts are often hard to make out just because he probably has really messy writing. As for size, I just recently figured out that I can increase the size of words so I can read them from further away."

The questioning continued on and on until finally Vexen seemed sated. At that point, Roxas couldn't wait to get out of there. Axel had started texting him during the little interrogation, and the blond preferred being with his boyfriend over being questioned for an hour and a half any day. He spent the remainder of the day with the redhead.

* * *

><p>That Monday turned out to be quite interesting, because at school Roxas' new schedule for the semester swapped around a few of his classes so that now he had chemistry with Zexion, meaning he'd be able to witness the bet Marluxia and Mr. Price had made. The pinkette had been so excited when he found out that he grabbed up Roxas in a swinging hug and cheered before kissing him repeatedly on the cheeks on top of the head. Unfortunately, the bet wouldn't begin until the following week because Mr. Price wanted to go over their final scores and had a film about Richard Feynman to share.<p>

Therapy later that day was actually quite interesting. Mrs. Bates had a vast ocean of patience, but even calm, cool, collected Mrs. Bates seemed to be nearing the end of her rope when it came to the Strife family and their issues. She seemed to share Roxas' sentiments that things weren't going anywhere. The situation was so circular, and it was very hard to get anything done with Tifa answering every question with an angry retort, Roxas keeping himself from jumping up and screaming at her, Sora sitting in a thick pool of denial, and Cloud withdrawing so far into himself that he created a black hole.

Roxas wanted to help break the cycle and get things moving, but he didn't want to risk completely blowing up and starting a shit show with Tifa. Plus, he honestly doubted that if he spoke up it would accomplish anything. Thus, on Monday Roxas projected all his hope onto Sora. Sora was the only one capable of doing anything at this point because Tifa actually valued his opinion and he wasn't stunned to silence like Cloud. He sat next to his twin on the velour couch and whispered his plea for Sora to do something to make something happen.

Instead of ignoring him or brushing him off, the brunet pulled away from Roxas and _glared_ at him with anger that Roxas didn't even know Sora possessed. It was a dark kind of anger, a violent and dangerous one. The blond didn't realize what he'd just done until Sora got to his feet and started screaming at Cloud. He exploded up and pointed at Cloud and screamed things that Roxas couldn't 100% understand physically. But on a mental and emotional level, he understood every word his twin was saying.

"_Dad you're such a __**fucking**__ idiot! This whole thing is __**your fault**__ because you couldn't be assed to event __**try **__to make things better! You can't stand up to Mom so you've ignored her beating on Roxas all these years and now you're just sitting there like you didn't __**expect**__ anything bad might come of it. You're so __**fucking**__ selfish and stupid and I hate you so, so much. I can't even __**begin**__ to explain the depth of my hatred for you because I would have to kill you in order to fully realize it! You're a useless part of this family and I'm sick of you just "coming along for the ride" when many of these problems are __**your fault**__. Why don't you just __**man-up for once in your pathetic life**__?! Why don't you stop being such a __**god damn pussy **__all the time and accept the fact that __**yes, we are in therapy and yes, it is your fault**__?!"_ Sora then angrily reclaimed his seat and glared openly at Roxas before crossing his arms, taking a deep breath, and then glaring at Cloud again.

All was quiet in the room, nobody had been prepared for that outburst at all, so they just sat there, the Strife family's jaws collectively hanging open, and Mrs. Bates very intensely perplexed. The therapist recovered from the shock quicker than everyone else and attempted to call order back to the session.

"Now, those are some very strong feelings that Sora has just expressed. I'm glad you spoke up, Sora, however, next time I'd like to request that perhaps you do it in a more kindly manner. And let me ask you, what brought that anger about?" Mrs. Bates questioned, reining everyone back into the therapy session.

Sora shrugged angrily and sighed. "I don't know. I'm just sick of him sitting there but being fifty miles gone. Before this whole therapy thing started, he'd always tell me I need to grow up more and start becoming a 'strong, respectable man.' But since Roxas left and since we started coming to counseling, he's clammed up like a little bitch. I can't help but think how hypocritical it is. Like, get _over_ yourself, old man."

Mrs. Bates nodded understandingly and jotted down some notes on her faithful clipboard before turning to Cloud. "Those are some strong emotions that Sora's feeling. Would you like to respond to him, Cloud?"

Cloud still seemed shocked, but a bit more actively so than he had been for the entirety of their other sessions. "I... I don't know. I... don't know why I can't understand all of this. I just don't know. I really," he paused to take a deep breath. He looked to be on the precipice of being okay and breaking down crying. He furrowed his brows and sighed. "I'm not good at this sort of thing," he mumbled.

"What do you think keeps you from fully understanding what's going?" the therapist wondered. "And why is it that you're not good in these kinds of situations?" The hope was apparent in her eyes, but Roxas doubted anyone was looking at Mrs. Bates' face. He just had a habit of always looking at people's faces due to his ability.

Cloud shrugged and scowled as the urge to cry visibly passed. "Growing up, I was just always taught to be a 'real gentleman.' Feeling things isn't exactly 'gentlemanly.' It worries people when a man is emotional. I can't have people worrying about me. I always tried to teach Sora that, mostly because Roxas suppresses everything naturally. Sora's not really like that, though, so I guess I just wanted him to try it out more..." Cloud trailed off as he further confused himself.

"So do you think that maybe everything right now is such a shock to you because Roxas finally released a huge burst of emotion by running away that you simply didn't expect to be there? And perhaps Sora feeling just as strongly as Roxas contributes to your shock because it proves that your teachings haven't exactly taken root?" Mrs. Bates suggested.

Cloud just nodded.

The rest of the session went by with small steps of progress being made. Cloud finally opened up a little bit, so everyone got to know a little more of his perspective. He continued to hold back for the most part, but it was a step in the right direction and more progress than they'd made in a while.

Tifa treated everyone to dinner after the session, probably because it was clear that Cloud was not feeling up to doing anything, including cooking and cleaning.

* * *

><p>All the Organization members were called together the following day for their second official group meeting with all the old and new members. They would be having dinner and then the meeting would start thereafter to accommodate for everyone's schedules since many members had work or school or whatever else and couldn't meet earlier.<p>

Dinner was delicious, as per usual, thanks to Xaldin. Once everyone had finished eating, Demyx, Luxord, and Saïx went into the kitchen to wash the dishes. The meeting was to begin once they finished, but until then, everyone at the table just relaxed and chatted. Marluxia took the opportunity and turned his attention to Zexion.

"So you fixed things with Demyx, right? He doesn't seem to be walking around as the shell of a person anymore," the pinkette wondered, drawing Lexaeus' as well as a few other members' attention.

Zexion scoffed. "Of course. I realized that I was overthinking things. Demyx is a very simple-minded person, so it was a fairly easy thing to fix."

"So, what did you do? Did you actually admit to your feelings for him verbally?" Larxene asked, always up for hearing about people's relationship problems—probably a side effect of her habit of gossiping.

At that Naminé snorted and interjected saying, "Please, this is Zexion we're talking about. His head's too far up his ass for that. Denial is his best friend."

Said bluenette scowled and rolled his eye. "No, I didn't tell him anything like that. All I had to do was let him top me," he informed them matter-of-factly, choosing to ignore Naminé's comment altogether.

Marluxia started laughing at that, chuckling a little bit. "What do you mean 'let him top you?'" he asked. "You're saying that _you're_ the one that usually tops?"

Zexion's face darkened and his features hardened immediately. "Yes. Yes, that's what I'm saying." He couldn't get another word out because Marluxia started absolutely sobbing with laughter, along with Larxene, who was every bit as amused as Marluxia.

The bookworm frowned indignantly, blushing a little bit in embarrassment at how ridiculous the notion seemed to his "friends." "I don't know why you're laughing. I've always preferred topping. You can ask Lexaeus if you don't believe me."

Marluxia stopped howling long enough to ask, "You mean you topped _him_?" before continuing with even greater gusto.

"Sure, go ahead, laugh all you want. At least I have sex regularly. When's the last time _you_ got laid?" Zexion retorted, crossing his arms. "And aside from just that, I'm actually a fairly good top."

At the mention of his lack of sex lately, Marluxia stopped laughing and glared. He quickly interjected before Zexion could continue. "But it's by choice," he clarified. "I could be having all the sex I want right now. I could even have sex with you if I wanted to. But, of course, I'd never so much as look at you that way. You don't deserve that privilege."

At that point Demyx, Luxord, and Saïx returned from the kitchen, and Marluxia shot his head in Zexion's boyfriend's direction.

"Hey Dem, is Zexion a good top? I refuse to believe that he tops most of the time or that he's good at it. I mean, he doesn't even reach my chest. How could he possibly rock it in the sack?"

Immediately, Demyx's face turned red, but he smiled and chuckled as he reclaimed his seat next to the aforementioned boy. He wrapped his arm around the boy's side and rested his head against the bookworm's head. "Yeah, he's really good. He can keep up a pace really well and he can do this jackhammer thing and he never gets tired and his dick is huge so it's very satisfying," he replied, seeming sheepish but proud.

Marluxia cackled at that. "Now you're saying he has a huge dick? Now I know you're lying."

"Actually, that's true," Lexaeus interjected after clearing his throat. "Zexion isn't proportional in that sense. He's well above average in terms of penis size."

Zexion's face turned bright red and he scowled at Lexaeus. "Nobody asked you, Lexaeus," he growled through his embarrassment. "Anyway, I don't really want to talk about this anymore."

But, of course, Marluxia couldn't let it end there. "No wait, just how big could his dick be? Now I'm curious."

"I'd say he's between seven-and-a-half and eight inches when he's fully aroused," Demyx responded, earning a punch in the chest from Zexion. The sandy blond whimpered and rubbed at his chest, frowning at his boyfriend.

"I said I didn't want to talk about it anymore!" he hissed.

Xemnas called everyone's attention after that, and Roxas was glad in Zexion's stead that their principal hadn't heard any of that. The blond himself only knew because of his ability, but he suspected that Zexion would not want him or Saïx to hear about his penis size.

Roxas himself was a little surprised, though, at the sheer size of Zexion's cock. He'd seen it before and also put it in his mouth before, but he'd never really considered the size or looked at it. He thought the reason he couldn't really fit much of it into his mouth was mostly due to the fact that he'd never sucked dick before. After a few moments of thinking about it, though, he did remember observing its size at least once. Xemnas' words called him out from his reverie.

The entire meeting was supposed to be about the new members' abilities since Vexen had sat down with everyone individually and talked about it and had gained new insight. Vexen just reported on everyone's abilities and explained them, which had Roxas almost asleep, to be honest.

Roxas already knew everyone's abilities and even though he was glad that there were other people like him, he honestly didn't care much about the finer points of everything. Plus, his and his friends' powers seemed relatively self-explanatory. The blond noticed that Zexion, on the other hand, was quite intrigued. Said boy had his eyes trained intently on Vexen as he spoke, probably taking mental notes as he spoke. Roxas was glad for that since it meant that his interest in their abilities had returned and he was getting more accustomed to Lexaeus being around to the point where his presence didn't bother him so much that it overrode his interest.

By the end of the spiel, over half of the members were falling asleep in their seats. It appeared this was nothing new, however, because none of the adults scolded them for it. When Xaldin mentioned that he had a dessert in the oven that'd be done soon, everyone immediately perked up and the official business part of the meeting ended. For the rest of the evening, they just chatted, some playing poker with Luxord.

It was around 10PM when Axel dropped Roxas off at home, which was way later than Roxas was supposed to be home. His parents had been texting him angrily and worriedly to come home, but Roxas had disregarded their requests and threats. At this point, he just decided to do what he wanted. He knew what was best for himself and he considered himself responsible enough to make his own decisions. His parents' opinions weighed over him like a dead chicken at this point and he was tired of putting up with the extra weight.

Upon entering the household, Roxas found that Cloud and Sora were in the living room watching TV. Tifa was nowhere in sight, which brought an extraordinary amount of relief that was probably inappropriate to feel in the situation. Indifferent to what constituted a normal family, Roxas proceeded to enter the home and joined his brother and father on the couch, laying across Sora's lap, who chuckled and began running his fingers through his hair.

"You were with Axel, weren't you?" Sora murmured to him, tilting his head to the side.

Roxas shook his head in response. "Not just Axel. The rest of my friends, too. We had dinner together. It was very nice."

Cloud snorted in contempt. "You should be having dinner with your family like a normal sixteen year-old boy. We made food for you, you know," he sneered, sounding especially bitter that evening. He was sitting back in the lounge chair next to the couch looking quite angry. "And if you're not going to be here, then you should at least inform your mother or I."

"My bad," Roxas said, snorting in amusement and rolling his eyes. "I didn't realize you'd be so butthurt over me not being here on account of the fact that you never make me feel welcome when I am around. Excuse me, Dad. You're totally right."

Cloud flared his nostrils at that and gave Roxas the most searing glare he'd ever seen. "Listen here, you little shit, I don't know why it's so fucking hard for you to accept the fact that you're part of this family whether you want to be or not. You're so fucking blind you can't even see how much your mother and I care about you."

"Oh, sorry I didn't see it through all the shit you've been putting me through lately. Sorry I didn't realize that you love me when you took away my phone and tried to ground me for something I can't even control," the younger blond retorted.

Of course, Cloud didn't take that too kindly, very visibly seething. His entire face had taken on a furious red hue and he was shaking. He exploded up out of his seat after Roxas finished speaking and started gesticulating wildly and angrily. "Well I'm _sorry_ for being so worried about you that I don't know what to do anymore! _Sorry_ that I want you to have a happy, normal life! _Sorry_ that I don't understand how being attracted to other men fits into that! _Sorry_ that I don't understand what being attracted to other men is even like! _Sorry_ that I can't treat you like the entitled little prince that you've become! _Sorry_ that all I can ever do is try and fail to make you happy, Roxas! _I'm sorry, Roxas!_" he shouted. He continued shouting that he was sorry as he left the room and went into the hallway toward the kitchen.

Roxas and Sora looked at each other, both cringing, once Cloud was no longer visible. Both were thoroughly terrified and proceeded to turn off the TV and sneak up to their rooms as quietly as possible. In all honesty, Roxas hadn't wanted to push his father over the edge. He didn't even know what he'd wanted or why he did it. He just knew he didn't want to be forced into silence anymore.

"Roxas, why would you dare to sass Dad when he's already so neurotic? He's been so unhinged since the last therapy session, you should know that!" Sora scolded his twin as both prepared for bed.

Guilt had permeated Roxas' skin so much over pushing his father so far that he couldn't respond to his brother. He just thought about the murderous look in his father's eyes that had a definite tinge of hurt and guilt in them. The entire situation made him feel uncomfortable and as if his skin was crawling. He just wanted to go to sleep and forget that that had ever happened.

Sadly, his mind had other plans. Roxas spent most of the night lying awake trying to find sleep, but being too overwhelmed by his thoughts to have much success. When he did fall asleep at last, he had nightmares about volcanoes and the end of the dinosaurs. In the end, he had a rough, unsatisfying night of tossing and turning and compulsively texting Axel, who didn't respond.

* * *

><p>Roxas had been dreading the Strifes' next therapy session since the night he pushed Cloud over the edge. He hadn't really talked to or looked at his father since then, mostly out of shame. Cloud had treated him in much the same way, but Roxas couldn't tell if he was feeling guilty too or if he was still hurt. Even though he hated this and even though he pretended to be more high and mighty about the fact, Roxas really hated not know about the thoughts travelling through people's minds it. He always felt like he had some form of control over the situation as long as he knew what people were thinking. But he felt powerless and he hated that.<p>

Things started out fairly normal with the session. Each session was structured fairly similarly: first Mrs. Bates would review the previous session and begin to analyze and give feedback, then she'd ask questions about it and about how everyone felt about it, and then she'd move on to ask new questions. So they discussed Cloud's coming out of his shell a bit, but nobody really had much to say about it, as per usual.

Eventually, Mrs. Bates abandoned that and moved onto the newer questions. Things progressed as normally, everyone giving short answers that didn't reveal much. The session stopped blurring by, which happened most of the time, when Mrs. Bates asked Roxas to recall the first time he really felt like things changed and what happened.

The blond had taken a moment to think about it because a lot of the time, it honestly felt like Tifa had always treated him meanly, but there had to have been a starting point. There had to have been a moment where things just broke because he remembered being really close with his whole family at some point, and things like that didn't just deteriorate over time for no reason with no cause.

"Well, I think the first time I remember things being different was when I was like eight," Roxas recounted as a clear image formed in his head. It came to him quite suddenly as he thought about it. It was a memory he didn't like, and honestly didn't remember all that well, as if he'd try to forget it and block it out of his head. But thinking back on it now, he remembered lying awake at night just thinking about it for about a month afterwards. And he remembered feeling a different kind of happy from his normal carefree happy ever since then.

"Sora and I were playing in this little play room we had. It was filled with toys and we were playing with these Lego pirates. And Sora and I were fighting over who got to use the one catapult we had. Mom and Dad were yelling at each other and I remember Sora got scared, so I closed the door so we could keep playing and not worry about them. We went right back to fighting over the catapult and I remember I finally took it from Sora and knocked him over. Mom opened the door right at that moment. She saw me shove Sora down and Sora started to cry."

Roxas had to stop telling the story to take a breath. He was very dumbstruck by the revelation that this moment had to have caused everything. Regardless, he kept moving forward, eyes focused down at the dark green carpeting in the office. "And Mom screamed and she quickly grabbed me by the wrist and held me up off the ground. Dad rushed in and picked Sora up. He said they'd go get ice cream, and that made Sora stop crying right away. And then Dad and Sora just," the blond paused to look at Sora first and then at his father, where his gaze lingered, "abandoned me."

Roxas shuffled uncomfortably in his seat. "And Mom yelled at me and screamed at me about how I need to play fair. Not to cheat and not to hurt anybody. And she spanked me and she shoved me to the floor. And she threw the catapult at the wall and it broke, snapping the base off of it. And when I started to cry she," Roxas had to stop to compose himself for a moment because he realized he was about to start crying "she told me to stop and man-up. She told me I would never amount to anything. She told me I was worthless and useless and that all I ever did was whine and complain and cause trouble. She yelled at me for at least ten minutes before she finally left the room. She slammed the door behind her so hard that it made one of the pictures on the wall fall off. I just lie there crying until Dad finally came to get me. He told me that they didn't bring me back any ice cream because he didn't think I wanted any."

When Roxas looked up again, Sora looked absolutely shocked, Cloud still seemed to be absorbing it all, and Tifa looked extremely stunned, but fully comprehensive and seemed to recall the same event.

Mrs. Bates let that sink in for a few minutes before she spoke again. "Tifa, do you remember the event that Roxas has just shared with us? Or do you perhaps remember it a little differently?"

Tifa nodded at first as she collected her thoughts and words together. "Yes. I remember that happening. I remember that day," she eventually responded, sounding very much dazed.

"Would you please share your side of the story? Do you remember what you and Cloud had been fighting about?" the therapist wondered.

It took a moment Tifa to let things sink in, and when they did, it still took her a great amount of effort to speak. "On that day I had just found out that while we were in college, Cloud had cheated on me."

Roxas and Sora exchanged looks of concern and worry before looking over at Cloud, who had his face buried in his hands. Tifa herself seemed very disheartened and Roxas couldn't remember ever seeing her so crestfallen and fragile.

The entire event was so surreal to Roxas. He'd always looked up to his father above everyone else. He thought his father was a great and respectful person, and even if it had been when they were much younger, Roxas still thought his father would've been more responsible and caring. On the other side, there was his mother, the tallest, meanest, biggest monster in his life.

And yet she was trembling pitifully like a leaf in the wind. And she looked so tremendously hurt to even have brought it up. And she seemed to be five inches off the ground instead of twenty feet.

It felt like hours had passed since anyone had last spoken, but it had probably only been around ten to twenty seconds, for Mrs. Bates spoke up as she finished scribbling things down on her clipboard. "Okay, that is a very vital piece of information. Thank you for sharing, Tifa."

And the tone in her voice was chipper and even relieved.

And that bothered Roxas because here was his family falling apart and here was his mother airing their dirtiest laundry, and then here was Mrs. Bates taking it like a simple little puzzle piece that she was just so overjoyed to have found. It struck Roxas as insensitive and for the first time since they'd started therapy, he felt like she was being paid to solve their problems, rather than honestly wanting to solve them just because she cared. He didn't say anything, though, because he didn't want to change the mood emanating from his family. He thought it was important that they all felt this somber atmosphere so they could respect how much his parents were hurting.

"Cloud, Tifa, Sora, Roxas, I think I may have identified the root of the problem. Tifa, could you explain a bit what happened afterwards and maybe shed some light on how you were feeling at that time?"

Again, Tifa took a bit to respond. The brokenness in her slowly burnt down into bitterness. "How do you think that I felt? Horrible, obviously! Cloud and I fought for a long time. That day was the worst of it, but we continued to argue even afterwards. I felt so insecure and like I just couldn't trust him anymore. But after around three weeks of this, I just got too tired and I felt too hurt. I didn't want to be mad anymore, and he swore it was only once and that he'd been drunk and he promised he'd never do it again. Like I said, I didn't want to be mad anymore and I didn't want to feel like that anymore, so I forgave him." Tifa gave a small, hopeful smile and gently grabbed Cloud's hand, who looked up from his protective barrier at her. "I don't think he's cheated since, and I've never been suspicious of him cheating again, so things are better now. I don't feel insecure anymore, and I haven't for a long time."

Tifa and Cloud exchanged sad smile, their hands remaining linked.

Mrs. Bates nodded as she added to her collection of notes. "I see. Now, Roxas said that you never treated him the same after that one day. Could you tell me about why or how that may be?"

The smile on Tifa's face disappeared, replaced by a firm frown. "I don't know. I don't mean to treat him so badly. I didn't even realize I was doing it. Whenever I look at him, my blood just boils. I can't explain it."

Mrs. Bates smiled for a split second before she recomposed herself and achieved a more neutral expression. "Tifa, I want to ask you a question, and I don't want you to freak out. I just want you to think about it and answer honestly. This'll be the last question of the session, okay?"

Tifa just nodded.

"Alright," Mrs. Bates brought her hands together in her lap and tilted her head a bit to the side, expressing her genuine curiosity, "do you think that maybe you've been projecting these feelings of anger and insecurity," she paused a moment, "onto Roxas?" As she said his name, the therapist gently gestured towards the blond.

"I suppose it's... possible," the much-hardened mother responded and then looked down at her knees. Her expression broke again and she looked so sad and defeated.

"It's possible."

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **Whoa whoa! Stuff! Things! Wow I did not expect any of that.

So what did you think of this chapter, hmm? Were you surprised? Things are falling into place and yes. How do you feel about this? Do you enjoy it? Hmm? I could be Mrs. Bates.

But yeah, if you liked or hated it leave a review to let me know what's the dealio and what you think! You should totally leave me questions or something. I don't know, I just wanna talk to you, you know? Yeah. Or like leave me writing requests on my tumblr bc I should start writing more and that would help.

Anyway, have a totally tubular day and congrats to anyone else that graduated from any kind of anything this year!

Kissu kissu!


	34. Starring Roxas as Jailbait

**A/N: **HOLY SHIT I'M REALLY SORRY IT'S BEEN A V LONG TIME. Uuu, there were a lot of things going on I'm rly sorry.

Anyway, so before the beginning, I'd just like to say thanks to everyone who reviewed and alerted and faved and I'll try not to let this happen again. I also want to thank Rugiku who beta'd this chapter.

Also, I am in search of a new beta, so if you are interested, let me know.

Enjoy the chapter!

Kingdom Hearts © Disney and Enix

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><p>Things in the Strife household achieved a new level of strange dichotomy. Initially, when the session had continued and ended, Roxas was absolutely pissed. He couldn't believe that the years of mistreatment and cruelty he'd endured were a result of something he had no control over and something that was his <em>dad's <em>fault. The teen had crossed his arms, steaming and refusing to speak with the group for an undetermined amount of time.

In his anger, he texted Axel to come pick him up from therapy because there was no way he could be around his family after that. Under the rage, Roxas just really didn't know how to respond to that admission. Conflicting thoughts clouded his mind and he just needed something to latch onto that was firm and simple. Thus seeing Axel was a must.

When the session was adjourned for the day, Roxas practically sprinted through the building towards the parking lot because Axel had texted him a few minutes earlier informing him that he would be waiting there. He needed to get there before his parents could stop him, so he elected that running was the best option for him.

Now, Roxas didn't expect this, and maybe it was just a thoughtless reaction from his family, but the rest of the Strifes began sprinting after him. The blond just ran faster, racing down the stairs and trying not to think about how Sora was hot on his heels, Tifa right behind him, and Cloud behind her. They shouted at him as he went, and Roxas could feel himself grinning triumphantly when he realized he was pulling further ahead of them. He sprinted straight out the front doors and into the parking lot where he frantically eyeballed the place until he spotted Axel leaning against the passenger door of his truck.

Without even a second thought, Roxas ran up to him, grabbed the redhead by the unzipped sides of his hoodie, standing up on his tippy toes as he did so, and pressed his lips into his very surprised boyfriend's. Of course, Axel wasn't one to decline the blond's affection, so he rested his hands on Roxas' hips, guiding the blond's pelvis against his own.

"Hey!" Cloud's voice sounded from the front door of the therapists' offices, which was about twenty feet from where Roxas and Axel were currently located. He had burst through the door with Sora on his right and Tifa just behind them. His shouting had shocked the couple out of kissing so they could identify the source of the noise.

"Come on!" Roxas exclaimed as adrenaline pumped through his system. He shoved Axel in the direction of the hood of the car so he'd get in and then quickly hopped in from his side.

Just as Axel had started the truck and locked the vehicle, Cloud had reached the truck and banged his fist on the space above the window. "Roxas!" he screamed and then banged on it again as Axel hastily threw the vehicle into reverse and maneuvered them to safety.

Following that, Axel and Roxas went back to Axel's apartment where they made out for nearly twenty minutes before the blond uttered another word to the redhead. When he did speak again, he only said, "I want you," and set to giving his boyfriend a hand job while Reno most likely heard them from the living room, but had the decency to keep to himself.

Once that was all over and both Axel and Roxas had been satisfied, they curled up together in their underwear while Roxas explained what had happened at the therapy session. This was the first time the blond had ever mentioned anything that happened in therapy to Axel, so Roxas could tell his boyfriend was quite flattered and pleased that he'd put his trust in him. He tried to hide his pleasure behind the sympathy he definitely had for the blond, but also clearly couldn't help but feel giddy over the display of faith.

After about thirty minutes of cuddling and talking, Axel said he'd make dinner for Roxas, but then he had to go to work after that. That kind of surprised Roxas since it was already around 7:30 and would be 8 by the time Axel actually left, but he didn't say anything about it. Actually he was a little more concerned with Reno and his presence in the kitchen when the couple walked in clad exclusively in underwear.

"Ah, so you're finally finished fucking," the older redhead chuckled, watching the two of them with amusement. Neither boy replied, though, too embarrassed to say a word. Reno continued on anyway. "Roxas, your parents called asking if you and Axel were here. Since I am a good parent, I told them yes, but since I also feel bad for you I told them you'd be staying the night and that I'd make sure there was no funny business. They were satisfied with that, so basically, you owe me big, Blondie."

Thus, Roxas milked the situation, seeing as he'd turned his phone off, practically forcing Reno to take care of his parents for him. He ate Axel's cooking and then the redhead kissed him goodbye, and, with nothing else to do, Roxas decided to curl up in Axel's bed where he fell asleep. There was something very nice about spending the night his lover's house even though he wasn't there. The atmosphere made the blond all snuggly and comfortable and he could honestly say that Axel waking him up by accident as he readied for bed and then joining him with instant cuddles was quite pleasant.

Now, the following day as far as the Strifes were concerned, Roxas had calmed down quite a bit. Venting to Axel all of his frustrations really helped him work through things and he decided that holding onto anger at his father for Tifa's actions was just not a good idea. He still didn't have the best feelings towards his mother, though, and he blamed her even more for projecting her feelings onto him for so long. Despite this, though, he felt more at peace in regards to his parents. He felt that he could have a regular dinner with them again, but he knew it was unlikely they'd be feeling the same way. Thus, the dichotomy was created. Roxas feeling finally at peace in some way while his parents were all worked up and feeling guilty and angry over everything.

When he returned home from school that day, which he decided would be the better option than making plans to hang out with anyone, Roxas found himself alone in the house for a few hours before anyone arrived home. Luckily—or unluckily?—Sora was the first to return, and with Riku hovering all over him like a fly on poop.

The first words out of Sora's mouth to Roxas were "How dare you!" followed up by "You better not tell Mom or Dad that Riku was here!"

Roxas took solace in the fact that at least Sora was acting normal. He did find that when his twin and Riku began swapping spit on the couch next to him he felt more comfortable hiding out in his room and texting Marluxia, Zexion, and Axel. Zexion's texts were sporadic, however, which he explained was because he was texting while having multiple rounds of sex with Demyx. Even though he was mildly grossed out, Roxas did have to silently admit that their stamina was impressive.

Marluxia mentioned something about trying to put together a camping trip for them and the Organization members to go on together. When Roxas voiced concerns about the weather this time of year, the pinkette explained that Vexen might be able to make it warmer, and if not, then it'd be all the more fun. The blond wasn't too enthused about the idea, though. He did not want to sleep outside in below freezing temperatures, even with Axel as a blanket. That did not sound the least bit pleasant.

The two Strife parents arrived home a little while later, indicative of the way Riku came racing up the stairs and into Sora and Roxas' bedroom. Instead of jumping out the window like he'd expected, Riku went and hid in the closet.

"Sora's gonna come up soon, so I'm just waiting for him," Riku informed the blond from the closet.

Roxas hummed in response and felt his mood drop when his parents' voice rang out, calling him downstairs. He pocketed his phone dolefully before rolling off of his bunk and onto his feet. Idly he wondered how mad they were at him for ditching them after therapy. Thinking back on it, he hadn't really meant anything by it. He'd just needed some time to vent and think things through. With them around, he never would've been able to do that and he knew it.

As he trudged downstairs, Roxas found his family members seated in the living room. Everyone had on varying expressions of exhaustion and irritation, and the teen realized he probably looked much the same. Nobody wanted to deal with any of this, he could tell. But they'd let things go so wrong for too long. Now they had to deal with everything at once if they wanted to get past it.

Once he took his seat on the couch next to Sora, his two parents, seated in lounge chairs on either side of the couch exchanged looks to silently determine who would speak. Cloud ended up being the one to begin.

"Yesterday, the therapy session got pretty intense, so I can understand why you wouldn't want to be there, but Roxas, was it honestly necessary for you to call Axel out there and then immediately desert us at the first possible chance? You're very lucky Reno was there or else you'd be in a _lot_ of trouble," he lectured.

Roxas interjected at this point. He didn't want to sit there and stew in his anger as he'd grown accustomed to. Things had to change, so he interrupted. "Dad, I just needed someone to vent to. I wasn't trying to run away or desert you guys. I just needed some time to think things over. Is that such a crime?"

"Roxas, you're not understanding the problem here! You're missing the whole point! You can't just run off all of the sudden! And you know how we feel about Axel right now! We don't want you spending time with him, especially not now. If you really needed some way to vent, then why didn't you say anything at therapy? Why didn't you try talking to me or your mother or Sora about it? What about us makes you so uncomfortable to talk to that you'd rather abandon us, huh?" Cloud demanded, not convinced at all of his son's argument. '_Roxas, you're still a child and you need to understand that!_'

Rage filled Roxas' veins and he seethed. His volume began increasing as he started to retaliate. "And _you _know how _I_ feel about Axel! And how the fuck am I supposed to talk to any of you? _You all hate Axel and refuse to understand how I feel_! You all have your own biases and I don't need your opinions about my personal thoughts! It's not like you'd ever respect my opinions anyway. And Mrs. Bates doesn't even care; she just wants her paycheck! She doesn't give a fuck about me or you or our family! See, _this is exactly why I had to go to Axel! You're fucking __**attacking**__ me!_" He shouted.

Tifa moved from her statuesque position with her arms over her chest and grabbed Roxas' arm. "Roxas, watch your language with your parents! And you do _not_ use that tone of voice with us! You were wrong to go stay the night at Axel's, especially without any permission. Hand over your phone and car keys. You are grounded," she barked at him.

If he got any angrier, Roxas was sure he'd pop a blood vessel. "_Fuck that!_" he rejected her punishment and ripped his arm from her grasp. "And it's complete bullshit that _I'm_ the only one that gets in trouble for being with my boyfriend! What about _Sora_? Hmm? He's _also dating a guy_, so why don't you go after _him_?"

Cloud and Tifa exchanged bewildered and enraged looks before returning their glares on Roxas. "Maybe if you didn't always break rules we wouldn't yell so much! Sora doesn't cause any trouble, _unlike you_," Tifa barked.

"Oh, he _doesn't_? Then why is Riku hiding out in our closet _right this second_? And why does he always sneak in and out when you're not paying attention, hmmm? Why haven't you noticed _Sora _sneaking around? But when I do it, it's huge fucking news! Maybe you should open your fucking eyes!"

And with that, Roxas turned on his heel and launched himself up the stairs. He was too angry to continue fighting. Plus, he felt a little bad in the back of his mind that he'd outed Sora and Riku. He hadn't meant to throw his twin under the bus, but he didn't want his parents to keep singling him out. That really needed to stop.

When Roxas finally reached his room, he had angry tears beginning to form in his eyes, but he roughly wiped them away before proceeding to curl up in his bunk. Without even looking over his shoulder at the closet, which Riku had cracked open in curiosity, he grumbled, "You should leave."

There was silence for a moment as Riku seemed to contemplate this.

Roxas wanted to crumble inwards. He felt horrible for revealing Riku's hiding spot to his family, and he was just so angry at everything else. He just wanted to scream and scream until everything was normal again. He hated himself and everything around him and nothing sounded nicer than disappearing and never having to deal with any of this again. He occupied his hands with yanking at his hair with great force and digging his fingernails into his scalp so hard that he felt warm liquid on under his nails.

"Are you okay?" Riku's voice broke through Roxas' thoughts before they could reach the idea of suicide.

It was then that Roxas realized Riku had sat down next to him on his bunk and placed his hand on the younger boy's shoulder comfortingly.

Roxas just shook his head, feeling too sick and nauseated to respond.

The sounds of shouting from downstairs finally reached the blond's ears and he realized it was Sora's turn to be lectured. The tears in Roxas' eyes had stopped forming and begun falling while he'd been trying to dull the sadness and frustration inside him by ripping his hair out. There was nothing good about this environment.

"Do you need anything, Roxas?" the silverette questioned, sounding very concerned.

Even if he had anything to say, Roxas wouldn't have been able to. His throat was constricted so tightly that he was surprised that he could still breathe. He shook his head again, hoping Riku would just leave. Even though Riku was probably one of the better choices of people to have around when he had a breakdown, Roxas still wanted to keep it to himself.

It sounded like Riku was about to start talking again, but footsteps began thundering up the stairs and that sent the senior dashing to the window to quickly open it and make his escape. He was just through the window when Cloud and Tifa stormed into the room. They caught a glimpse of his silver hair, though, and ran to the window, yelling at him to stay away from Sora and to keep out of their house.

Roxas burrowed under his blankets so that they completely covered him. Having his parents witness his meltdown was the worst possible thing that could happen to him. Luckily, after they were satisfied with Riku's departure, they turned and left the room only for Sora to enter right after they left. He was sobbing as he closed their door behind him.

"Roxas, why did you do that?" the brunet blubbered. He roughly grabbed Roxas and shook him. "Roxas! How could you do this to me?" he demanded.

At that point, Roxas flipped onto his other side to glare at his twin. "Now you know how I feel on a daily basis," he growled. He didn't feel so bad for his twin anymore. In fact he was even angrier now. His own brother had no concept of how common this treatment was for him.

Sora seemed a bit taken aback, and his forehead revealed it was because of the tears streaming down his face. He was even more surprised when Roxas got up from his bed and took the duffle bag from their closet that he'd used to move in originally.

"What are you doing, Roxas?" he wondered with bated breath. His anger seemed to have dwindled down into a worried curiosity.

"I can't stay here. I can't be here anymore," the blond responded as he began neatly packing clothes into the bag. This time, though, Roxas wasn't running away. He just needed to stay elsewhere until he could handle being around his family again. This time, he'd tell his parents where he was going. Most importantly, this time he'd continue to attend school. His first thought was to stay with Zexion, since he was so close. "I'm gonna go stay at Zexion's house. I just can't be here."

The worry seemed to leave Sora and the anger returned. "Well whatever. I hate you, Roxas," he huffed as he climbed onto his bunk.

Roxas felt his heart pang, but he didn't respond. He didn't really know how. Now he just wanted to leave even more. He finished packing quickly and then continued on downstairs to confront his parents.

They were talking on the couch when he approached them with his duffle bag over his shoulder. When they noticed him standing there, they looked up. Immediately, confusion showed on their faces.

"I'm gonna stay at Zexion's house for a while. I'm taking my phone," Roxas curtly informed them.

The Strife parents didn't respond or say anything as their son exited the house.

* * *

><p>Now, Roxas had had every intention of staying at Zexion's house. He immediately went across their yards and into the Corazza household. There were no cars in the driveway, so Roxas figured that Zexion must've been home alone. When he entered the house, however, he immediately heard Demyx screaming his best friend's name from upstairs. He stuck around for a few minutes, listening to Demyx's love cries as he thought of someone else he could stay with. Naminé and Axel were definitely out of the question, and if he stayed with Larxene, he was sure she'd kill him. The Organization headquarters was a definite possibility, but he didn't feel comfortable enough to stay there alone. Thus, Roxas texted Marluxia and around ten minutes later, he found himself in his current situation, sitting on the couch in Marluxia's living room watching TV while texting his parents, informing them of the change in plans.<p>

Roxas enjoyed his friend's living room. It was fairly small and very cozy. Much like the rest of the house, it was clean and well put-together. He'd never been in Marluxia's living room for more than a few minutes before today and it was actually very nice. There was a small TV sitting across from a low-standing coffee table and a couch with wood exposed at the curls of the armrests that matched the table. A few short, fat candles and magazines tastefully covered the tabletop, framed pictures hung from the walls of Marluxia and his mother and others of their friend group, and heavy, flowery drapes covered the sliding glass door obscuring the view of the backyard.

Marluxia entered the living room, having just gone to make them some tea, and joined the blond on the couch. "Now, you know I don't mind you staying here, but why is it that you need a place to stay in the first place? And why do you look so awful?"

Tiredly, Roxas rubbed his eyes and shrugged. The heat emanating from Marluxia's body called to him in a way that only Axel's ever had before. Perhaps his lackluster mood made him more desperate, but Roxas gave into his urges and he snuggled up to the pinkette's torso, burying his face in the older boy's chest.

Roxas didn't know why he didn't expect it, but Marluxia smelled unbelievably good and it comforted him greatly. He felt himself drifting off to sleep already, and the fact that Marluxia wrapped his arms around the blond and secured him in position did nothing to the contrary.

It seemed like a lifetime before Roxas opened his eyes again, but he'd only been asleep for five minutes. Marluxia roused him awake gently to inform him that his father was on the phone asking to talk to him. He proffered the landline phone to the blond as if to help explain the issue at hand.

With a yawn, Roxas took the phone and held it up to the side of his face. "Hello?" he mumbled into the plastic brick, too groggy to realize and consider that Cloud had chosen to call Marluxia's house directly instead of his cell phone.

"_Roxas, it's your father._"

That had to be some sort of special ability; making a sudden wave of anxiety and stress wash over Roxas in just four words. He grumbled irritably. "What?" he responded none too gently.

There was a sigh over the line before Cloud's voice climbed through the speaker once again. "_Roxas, why are you doing this? Why can't you just stay home? Or at least at Zexion's house? I worry about you..._"

In immediate response, Roxas snorted. "Why? Do you really want to hear why? Because there is a laundry list of reasons."

Cloud tried to cut in at this point, but Roxas continued on as he thought of more to add to his previous statement, refusing to be interrupted.

"But you know what? Sora was right. You can't keep me somewhere I don't want to be," Roxas chuckled humorlessly. When his father was silent for several seconds, Roxas decided to say more. His tone changed to a more pleading, tired one following his more snarky one. "I just can't be around the house right now, okay? Not until things get better. I can't wade through the bullshit for any longer."

Silence made Roxas' ears ring for a few moments before Cloud responded.

"_I understand. I love you, Roxas. Be careful_." And with that, the line clicked, informing Roxas of the call's end.

The blond sat there for a moment, grumbling internally and scowling, before passing the phone back to Marluxia and falling right back to sleep against the pink-haired senior. This time, Roxas had high hopes that he could sleep for two weeks straight and wake up to breakfast in bed at Axel's house.

But sadly he opened his eyes a little bit later that evening to Marluxia prodding him awake with gentle shaking. He realized at the back of his clouded mind that they were now in Marluxia's bedroom cuddling on his bed as he glowered at the pinkette, silently demanding why he'd awoken him.

Roxas felt bile rise up in his throat out of sheer fury when Marluxia informed him that Axel had told him to wake him up in order to return the blond's phone. The senior explained that Axel was jealous of Marluxia for cuddling with Roxas in his bed, so the blond agreed to take a picture of himself kissing the older boy on the cheek while he gazed over at the camera on Marluxia's phone and flipped it off out of revenge for telling Marluxia to wake him up. Marluxia intended to put it up onto Facebook or something, but Roxas couldn't find it in himself to care about why or how it'd look. Instead, he passed out once more, this time for good.

* * *

><p>The heat was so unbearable and delicious that Roxas shuddered and let out a small groan. He became aware momentarily of a bead of sweat dripping from his forehead down to his chin, but that was fleeting and was soon replaced with the feeling of hips grinding against his and hands grasping at the bare skin of his back. The hips guided him against a wall and he suddenly noticed the sensations against his neck that were wet and very pleasant.<p>

"_Axel_," he moaned out, gathering quite suddenly that his fingers were threaded in his lover's wild, red mane. He was tugging at his boyfriend's hair as Axel's skillful mouth ravaged his neck and shoulder. He felt the blood pumping through his veins hot and quick as Axel's hands and fingers trailed over the blond's skin with such gentleness and sensual slowness that Roxas swore he could feel the individual ridges of the skin on Axel's fingers brushing over his skin. Again, Axel's name left his hot mouth and his heart felt like it'd either explode from over-usage or stop working entirely.

He wrenched Axel from his neck gruffly and began backing up, dragging the redhead along with him via his hair, until his calves hit Axel's bed, which he then sat on and opened his legs so his lover could fit there. "On your knees, bitch," Roxas heard himself snap at Axel in the haze of heated pleasure.

Without any hesitation or response, the older boy complied quickly, dropping to his knees and beginning to nudge at the cloth covering Roxas' crotch with his nose. He narrowly missed nudging at Roxas' aching erection, which was actually flopped over his right thigh by this point, whereas Axel had aimed more to the left.

Angrily, Roxas mashed Axel's face into his erection so as to motivate the boy to simply give him what he wanted without all this teasing stuff.

Axel whimpered in response to the rough handling, which served to excite Roxas in a way he hadn't had nearly enough experience with yet. Still, though, the redhead obeyed the silent command and quickly worked to unbutton and unzip Roxas' pants, keeping his darkened, half-mast eyes on his work instead of on Roxas' eyes, which really needed to change.

Thus, Roxas ran a hand along the underside of Axel's chin, gently tilting his lover's head back until their eyes met. Axel's greens had dulled to a selfish, wanton forest color instead of their usual vibrant jade.

Axel couldn't help but release another erotic whimper as he blindly pulled out Roxas' dick from its confines. At first, the redhead looked down as he ran a thumb over the tip, dragging some of the pre-cum around over the head. Then Axel re-established eye contact as he placed his lips on the tip of Roxas' now-throbbing cock.

Everything in Roxas' being urged for him to order Axel to just hurry up and swallow his dick up, but he refrained. As much as he hated it, he also loved it. He loved the torture, but dreaded it all the same. Luckily, he wasn't conflicted for long because now Axel was swirling his tongue around the head and now Axel was gently sucking on it, lapping up the pre-cum and now Axel was pulling his pants down while maintaining contact with Roxas' dick in order to let his balls breathe a bit more.

"_Axel!_" the overly-pleased blond moaned out when Axel began kissing and sucking at his testicles, servicing the shaft with his hand.

The heat within Roxas was incredibly uncomfortable and driving him to madness. He couldn't handle this for much longer, he could feel it. His defenses were simply no match for Axel's skill and he could tell he wouldn't be able to hold it in once orgasm encroached upon him. As some form of retribution, Roxas yanked at his lover's hair with one hand and slapped him across the face with his erection with the aid of his other hand.

Quite predictably, Axel grinned and chuckled before complying with the fervent request. He took a good amount of Roxas into his mouth and began slowly easing the blond's member in and out of his salivating orifice.

Roxas whimpered and swayed back and forth slightly on the bed with pleasure. He had to shut his eyes tightly and bury his fingers in Axel's hair to fight the urge to stand up and just mouth-fuck his very accommodating boyfriend. The heat and pressure inside of him began to curdle and Roxas could practically taste his coming orgasm.

Axel chuckled against his cock, sending quite appealing vibrations through the organ, pushing Roxas over the edge, so the blond closed his eyes tighter and braced for pleasure to overwhelm him.

But nothing happened.

Suddenly, he opened his eyes and found himself lying in Marluxia's bed, staring directly into the pink-haired senior's blue eyes. The situation struck Roxas quickly and he felt his face positively redden and tried very much to will away the solid erection in his unconscious grasp. Immediately, he withdrew his hand from his pants just as a huge wave of embarrassment completely filled him, leaving him unable to speak or even think of words to form into sentences he'd like to say.

Marluxia was the first to speak, the tone in his voice matching the playful, cat-like expression on his face. "Dreaming of Axel, are we?"

"Oh my god..." was the only thing Roxas could say as he buried his face in Marluxia's blanket. Possibly the worst thing about this situation was that now he had to deal with feeling extremely horny with no way to release it. And if Marluxia saw the tent he'd pitched, he had a feeling the older teen would pester him about it non-stop. He drew his legs up to his chest to protect his inappropriate boner and then just lie there listening to Marluxia positively cackle at him for a few solid minutes.

Eventually, Marluxia left the bed and went to sit at his vanity to begin applying his makeup, leaving Roxas to gather his thoughts a bit before he finally swung his legs over the pinkette's bed to find that his duffle bag was next to Marluxia's schoolbag in front of the closet. While covering his manly bits as best he could, Roxas quickly stood up and grabbed his bag before dashing out of the senior's bedroom and into the bathroom located directly opposite of the room in the hall.

After dressing and brushing his teeth, Marluxia came knocking at the door to let Roxas know breakfast was ready and they'd have to hurry or else be late to school

* * *

><p>That day at school was strange. For one thing, Roxas couldn't find the time to get to the vending machines at all that day. At nutrition break, his French teacher asked him to deliver some books and packets to other foreign language teachers, and then at lunch Roxas realized he still had to type something up for his English class that he'd promised to turn in before the end of the day being that he'd missed the original deadline.<p>

Something else strange that happened was when he and Sora crossed paths at their locker, and the brunet was still so mad Roxas that he shoved him into a bunch of lockers. Riku, who stood idly by, looked immensely concerned, but too shocked into silence to really do anything. Roxas would've been lying if he said Sora's violence didn't wound him in the most painful way. Still, he tried to ignore it as he trudged on.

After school, Marluxia drove the both of them as well as Naminé to the Organization's headquarters. Apparently, everyone else was going there, too, even though there wasn't a meeting that day or anything. Everyone just wanted to hang out there, apparently. Roxas was happy because it meant he had something better to do than take up space in Marluxia's house. Not that he didn't like Marluxia's house or Marluxia himself or his mom or anything, he just felt like an intruder. He didn't feel entirely comfortable there as he would if he'd been staying at Zexion's or Axel's house.

They were the first of the group to arrive, which Roxas deduced was probably because Axel had work and Zexion was watching Demyx at water polo practice. Even though it was a bit embarrassing, Roxas couldn't deny that he missed Axel even though he'd seen him just a couple of days ago. He missed the redhead's irritating humor and uncomfortable warmth. They hadn't really texted that much that day, mostly because Roxas just turned off the device after he realized his family, Sora in particular, would just keep texting him annoying messages and questions that were hurtful and mean and most definitely rhetorical.

Lexaeus, Xaldin, and Xigbar happened to be there when the three high schoolers arrived, which Roxas felt a little apprehensive about. Xaldin still really intimidated him, Xigbar creeped him out, and he didn't really know how to feel about Lexaeus, though it certainly was not a positive feeling. More than that, Marluxia took Naminé away from Roxas to discuss something in private, leaving the blond to awkwardly stand outside the doorway of the living room where Lexaeus and Xigbar were sitting on the couch looking back at him after having heard the three newcomers enter.

Xigbar immediately grinned at Roxas and beckoned him over by gesturing with his head in a jerking motion. "Come on over here, Blondie. Take a load off," he invited. "Or, better yet," he added, "take my load on your face." The one-eyed man's grin morphed into a sly smirk that frankly gave Roxas the willies.

Lexaeus snorted and shook his head in disbelief. "Shut up, Xigbar. He's uninterested, taken, and most importantly: jailbait."

"Jailbait never stopped you from getting to Zexion," Roxas pointed out, still unsure of whether he should go off somewhere else or if he should join the duo on the couch. Despite his lack of certainty, the blond did end up going over and sitting in the middle of both parties, who happened to be sitting close enough to be on the same side of the three-fourths box shape that the couch made.

The giant man grumbled in response, "I didn't turn eighteen until after Zexion and I had already broken up." Though the comment was probably meant to be seen as somewhat lighthearted, Roxas swore he could physically feel the shift in mood from Lexaeus. Curious, he turned his attention from the movie playing on the TV to Lexaeus' forehead. '_Keep it together, Lex. Zexion still loves you deep down. Keep it together_.'

Xigbar laughed and threw his arm around Roxas, completely oblivious to his fellow Organization member's despair. "I like you, kid! You're snappy. But in a good way! Xemnas and Saïx and everyone else except for Xaldin and Luxord, on rare occasions, have sticks lodged so far up their asses they're comin' out their mouths."

The physical contact made Roxas at least twice as uncomfortable as he'd felt originally, but he bore with it. He offered a few uncomfortably stiff chuckles so he didn't feel so left out. As Xigbar's laughs petered out, he took Roxas by the chin and smirked.

"You know, I've kind of had my eyes on that Demyx kid, but you'll do just fine as his replacement," he practically purred to Roxas before leaning into the blond as if to kiss him.

Luckily, Lexaeus came to his safety and shoved Xigbar away, launching the Cyclops against the other side of the couch. "Jesus Christ, get the fuck out of here! You're seriously creepy; he's probably 20 years younger than you. You could be his dad, for Christ's sake!" The mountain of a man was on his feet as he thundered at the much older male, clearly intent on protecting Roxas until the skunk-haired man left.

Realizing this, Xigbar snorted and rubbed at his shoulder, which he'd landed on awkwardly in his fall. "Whatever. You just want to keep him for yourself." He turned his eyes onto Roxas. "You'd better watch out. He'll jump you the moment you let your guard down."

"Oh, just get the fuck out of here! Go on, get!" Lexaeus threw some of the pillows from the couch at Xigbar as he hurriedly scuttled out of the living room. Once satisfied, he slumped back down into the couch looking particularly exhausted. '_Great, now Roxas probably thinks I'm some pedophile_.' "I don't have any interest it jumping you, Roxas, I promise," the brunet assured him.

Roxas shrugged as he considered the strangeness of the situation. Before now, Roxas had only experienced Lexaeus as an idea or a character, but not a real person. All he really knew was what Zexion had told him and what little Lexaeus had said, and none of that had been flattering. As much as Roxas wanted to blindly trust Zexion and side with him, it was somewhat difficult when he knew how intense their emotions were for each other. It swayed Zexion's perception, obviously, but there was still much more to Lexaeus than what he'd told Roxas. There was probably a very good reason Zexion had loved him, and still loved him enough to the point where he wanted to forgive him and go back to being lovers. Plus, Roxas had to admit that even without Zexion's love for him, it was hard to blindly hate someone when they were living and breathing right next to you in such a normal way. He didn't seem like a manwhore or a cheater or a liar, he just seemed like a tired college student who had a lot on his plate. More than that, though, he just seemed human.

"No, it's okay, I know," Roxas promised. He decided to try to ignore the image of Lexaeus that Zexion had built up in his mind. It was unfair to judge him based solely on that. The blond gave the monster of a man a smile.

Lexaeus seemed a little caught off-guard by Roxas' response, but he didn't express that verbally. '_God, I don't even know what to say to him._' "So you're Zexion's best friend now?" he asked cautiously. '_Better try to leave a good impression on him if he means so much to Zex._'

"Yeah. I moved here back in like September. We've been best friends for almost the entire time. We're fairly close, and yeah," the younger boy explained, not sure he really wanted to talk about Zexion with Lexaeus. At the same time, though, that was one of the few things they both knew they had in common. Plus, Roxas just got the feeling that the college student was just aching to have Zexion back.

"Hey, if you don't mind, could you tell me what happened when you cheated on Zexion? And, like, why?" Roxas blurted without really meaning to. He didn't mean to sound so nosey, but at the same time he was really curious. Why would a man who appeared as love-struck as Lexaeus cheat? Plus, knowing this would probably give Roxas more insight as to who Lexaeus actually was.

The question, quite predictably, seemed off-putting for Lexaeus. He uncomfortably rubbed at the back of his neck and when he responded, Roxas became hyper-aware of how deep and velvety Lexaeus' voice was. It was weird to admit, but he _did_ have a sexy voice. "Um, I suppose I could tell you if you wanted? But I would prefer it if you keep it to yourself. I don't really want people talking about it. I don't want Zexion to hear about it, either. If he hears about it, I think he'll just be more upset."

Roxas smiled. "I know you don't know me that well, Lexaeus, but secrets are kinda my thing."

Lexaeus smiled appreciatively at that. "Okay, as a forewarning, I know all of this is entirely stupid. I dumped Zexion because I just felt so guilty about how stupid it is. I couldn't continue to kiss and make love to him knowing something awful happened in such a dumb way."

Not knowing how to respond to that warning, Roxas just nodded.

"Well, I was very drunk when it happened, which is the first indicator of how dumb it is, and one of the main reasons I don't want to tell Zexion. I know he'd just throw his arms up and say 'Of _course_, of _course_ you were drunk' or something like that. Anyway," Lexaeus cleared his throat and got a bit more comfortable on the couch, "I was with Xaldin and we were going to this party with some friends. Now, nobody knew about my relationship with Zexion, not even Xaldin, despite the fact that he's my best friend. I just didn't want anyone picking on Zexion or me because of our age difference or because he's so small or anything like that. So Xaldin thought I'd been single for the whole of my high school career. He wanted me to at least get laid, so he took me to this party specifically for the purpose of hooking me up with someone."

There was a pause where Lexaeus furrowed his brows and leaned back into the couch, as if he was working very hard to get the events and details straight.

"So he kept feeding me beers because he knew I would never sleep with anyone if I was sober. I was so sloppily drunk, I can scarcely remember what happened. When he thought I was drunk enough, he started pushing me to have sex with this girl even though I really didn't want to. I'm not even attracted to girls, and Zexion was on my mind, but I don't think Xaldin would've believed me at that point if I said I had a boyfriend. He would think it was an excuse not to sleep with her. He locked the girl and me in a closet and she started grinding on me and feeling me up.

"I felt really guilty, but I couldn't stop her. I was simply not in the right frame of mind to deal with that properly. So I let her have her way with me. And we had sex. The worst sex of my life, but sex nonetheless. Afterwards I couldn't look Zexion in the eye. I knew he wouldn't care to hear an explanation. Even when I tried to apologize, he told me he didn't want to hear it." Lexaeus sighed at this point and put his head in his hands. "But I never stopped loving him. I love him still, as strongly as I did the day we broke up." He lifted his head and scowled as he stared off into the distance. "And now that other guy, _Demyx_, is with him. And I'm sure he's never cheated on Zexion and probably never will, so he has a leg up on me, but I still won't let him take Zexion from me that easily. Zexion still loves me. I know he does."

Roxas took a moment to collect his thoughts and spoke once he thought of a place to start. "Well, maybe you should have at least tried to explain to Zexion what happened right after it did happen. He might have been upset for a little while, but the fact is that you dumped him seemingly out of nowhere and then appeared months later after he's already dating someone else. It seems a little bit like a little kid's logic. Like, 'I want him so you can't have him.' That kind of thing. Plus, I think if you'd explained it, he would've been less hurt than dumping him suddenly and letting him wonder and sulk," the blond explained. Though he felt kind of bad for Lexaeus, he couldn't deny that there certainly _were_ better ways he could've dealt with everything that had happened.

Sadness permeated Lexaeus' expression and he seemed utterly lost. "I know that, I know. I've played everything over in my head multiple times. At the time, I thought it would've been better to just let him go after I thought about it a little bit because I was going to go to college anyway and I didn't know how much free time I'd have to spend with him. On top of that, we were already extremely intimate with each other and everyday it seemed like he just opened up more and more, as did I. I didn't know he also had an ability, so I thought if he found out it would scare him away anyway, and it was getting harder to keep that a secret. Furthermore, I didn't think we'd see each other at all anymore. We weren't going to run into each other in everyday life, so I thought it'd be easier to deal with because we wouldn't be around each other."

The jealousy and depression on the mountain-man's face heightened. "I could never have foreseen that I'd have to be around him and his new boyfriend on a regular basis." He gnashed his teeth a little bit at the mention of Demyx.

While that did make sense to Roxas, Lexaeus _did_ put himself in this situation, so he couldn't feel too bad for him. Roxas didn't really believe in burning bridges, especially not with people you were really close with. The one good thing Roxas got out of the conversation was how Lexaeus was feeling about the entire thing. His forehead hadn't portrayed anything contrary to what he'd been saying, so he knew that the brunet was definitely guilty and upset about everything. Even though he didn't think Lexaeus had made the smartest decisions, he felt like he knew the college student better now and understood things better. He also understood why Zexion loved him so much a bit better than before.

Abruptly Lexaeus shook his head and turned to face Roxas. "Sorry. I know this puts you in a weird position, being friends with Demyx and all. I just hadn't really gotten the chance to talk about this with anyone yet."

"You mean nobody asked about it?" Roxas questioned, extremely confused. With all the shit that had gone down between Zexion and Lexaeus and Demyx up until this point, the blond was sure at least _someone_ had to have asked him what was up.

The man shrugged in response. "Well, it's not that nobody _asked_, it's that I didn't really think it was a good idea to tell anyone yet. Everyone has loose lips in this house." He suddenly changed topics. "Anyway, I can see why Zexion thinks so highly of you and is so close to you even though you haven't known each other long. You're a good listener. Very easy to talk to and not judgmental." He nodded appreciatively. "Thank you for listening."

Suddenly, Roxas felt very embarrassed and flattered. "Oh, it was no big deal, I was curious anyway." The conversation felt completely over after that, so Roxas pulled out his phone and braved the nasty messages so he could begin texting responses to the very worried messages Riku had sent him about Sora and their current relationship. Lexaeus didn't seem to mind the conversation door being sealed, seeing has he picked up a book from the coffee table and began reading it.

Back to Riku, the silverette seemed to be very confused about what exactly why Sora was so mad. Roxas had expected that Sora would've blabbed about it all over by now, but seeing as that didn't seem to be the case, he explained that it was because their parents had yelled at Sora for the first time ever and that it was mostly Roxas' fault. Luckily, Riku didn't blame Roxas for what had happened, and definitely didn't seem to hold it against him. He also expressed concern for Roxas' wellbeing, which the blond thought very sweet of him. Even though he undeniably had a dark side, Riku sure was gentlemanly as a whole.

Demyx and Zexion showed up a little while later, Demyx carrying an instrument case in one hand and a music stand in the other. Zexion held in his hands a book and a binder, which he handed off to Demyx once they entered the living room and he'd set down the music stand.

Roxas greeted the two, who greeted him back, Zexion looking a bit wary about Lexaeus' presence there. "What's that stuff for?" the blond curiously asked Demyx as he watched the dirty blond set down his instrument and binder and adjust the height of the music stand.

"Hmm? Oh, I have to practice violin today. I've been spending a lot of time practicing piano, guitar, and ukulele lately, and I need to practice my other instruments too," he explained, chipper as always.

Zexion went to sit on the couch as furthest away from Lexaeus as he could be.

Lexaeus snorted, immediately drawing a glare out of Demyx, who had set his sheet music from the binder up on the music stand and was currently cleaning his violin with a cloth as well as some kind of product that Roxas couldn't recognize.

"Excuse me, is there a problem here?" the swimmer wondered as he flipped the violin over to hastily rub at its face.

Lexaeus clearly tried to stifle his shit-eating grin, but it still oozed out. "Just try not to be squawking over there with that thing. I'm trying to read."

Demyx let out an angry huff as he finished cleaning the violin off and then quickly moved to cleaning the bow. "Squawking? Are you fucking kidding me?" he demanded incredulously.

"Dem, play Vivaldi's _Spring_. I'm sure he won't say anything unnecessary and stupid afterwards," Zexion suggested, also seeming put off by Lexaeus' comment.

Meanwhile, Roxas felt very out of place and like he was caught in the crossfire of a never-ending war that had descended upon him. Even though Lexaeus seemed like a dick, Roxas had a sinking suspicion that the giant just put up a front to hide how hurt he was by everything. Perhaps even to incriminate himself and dirty his image even more in Zexion's eyes. One thing was for sure, the writing on his forehead was much more legible than it had been before. Usually, it looked smudged, almost like he wrote with his left hand and then wound end up at the end of a sentence with much of it on his hand. This discovery was strange to Roxas. Usually the words on people's foreheads were very clear. Or they didn't stay smudged for as long as they had for Lexaeus. It was definitely something he'd have to put more thought into later.

The sound of a violin's warbling song filled the air, taking Roxas out of his thoughts. Sure enough, Demyx's playing on the violin was on par with his abilities on piano, guitar, and ukulele. Still the blond was completely blown away by his friend's capability. It always surprised him that Demyx was always such a dorky, goofy guy, but he was so disciplined and serious and talented when it came to music.

Lexaeus didn't respond to the playing or the fact that he'd just been showed up. He just kept his nose in his book until Demyx stopped playing. At that moment, just when Demyx looked over at his competition with such assurance and triumph, Lexaeus spoke in his deep, clear voice.

"_I want you to know one thing_," at those words, recited in Lexaeus' soothing voice, Zexion whipped his head up in his ex-boyfriend's direction, looking extremely shocked.

Lexaeus met Zexion's gaze at that point, a small warm smile on his face as he continued. "_You know how this is: if I look at the crystal moon, at the red branch of the slow autumn at my window, if I touch near the fire the impalpable ash or the wrinkled body of the log, everything carries me to you, as if everything that exists, aromas, light, metals, were little boats that sail toward those isles of yours that wait for me._"

At this point, Zexion's eyes had gone glassy and his mouth was slightly parted in awe. His forehead was blank, but from the expression on his face, it looked to Roxas like he was seeing stars. Roxas had never seen Zexion look so love-struck or overcome with emotion.

Even still, Lexaeus continued on. "_Well, now, if little by little you stop loving me, I shall stop loving you little by little. If suddenly you forget me, do not look for me, for I shall already have forgotten you. If you think it long and mad, the wind of banners that passes through my life, and you decide to leave me at the shore of the heart where I have roots, remember that on that day, at that hour, I shall lift my arms and my roots will set off to seek another land._"

And Zexion was shaking his head slowly as if rejecting that option.

"_But if each day, each hour, you feel that you are destined for me with implacable sweetness, if each day a flower climbs up to your lips to seek me, ah my love, ah my own, in me all that fire is repeated, in me nothing is extinguished or forgotten, my love feeds on your love, beloved,_" Zexion began reciting the next line along with Lexaeus, "_and as long as you live it will be in your arms without leaving mine._"

Zexion and Lexaeus gazed longingly at each other after the poem had ended and Roxas thought that they might start having sex right there. But upon realization that his boyfriend had not only been listening to Lexaeus' monologue, but had also been greatly enjoying it, Demyx broke away from the violin, which he'd begun playing again at some point, and plopped himself down onto Zexion's lap.

The look that crossed Zexion's face was hard to read, but he looked uncomfortable for sure. Hastily, he stood, dislodging the musician from his lap, and left the room leaving behind a very confused Demyx sitting on the floor.

Lexaeus got to his feet, too, and followed his ex into the kitchen where Zexion emerged from not long after without a trace of the huge man.

"What the hell was that about?" Demyx wondered, sounding very affronted.

In lieu of responding, Zexion approached his offended boyfriend and kissed the absolute daylights out of him. "I love you, Demyx. I love you," Roxas swore he heard Zexion murmur as he pulled away for just a moment.

The blond grew exponentially more uncomfortable as Demyx tackled the bookworm into the couch and their kissing's passion increased to the nth degree. Roxas was about to say something or leave the room or do anything that would've alleviated his discomfort, but luckily for him, Saïx and Xemnas walked through the living room door and the silver-haired principal shouted at them to behave appropriately or take their "canoodling" elsewhere.

The couple looked at each other for a moment before sprinting out the front door hand in hand.

Roxas silently thanked the two adults and greeted them. They seemed tired, though, and both generally just floated out of the room and up the stairs, leaving Roxas alone to continue texting Riku, informing him of the events that had just occurred.

* * *

><p>It was about twenty minutes later when Axel finally showed up at the headquarters. Within that time frame, Zexion and Demyx had returned from their fun activities, Lexaeus, Marluxia, and Naminé all convened in the living room from wherever, and Vexen, Luxord, and Larxene had showed up. Everyone was chilling in the living room, Larxene, Luxord, Marluxia, and Vexen playing poker while Lexaeus and Zexion read their separate books, Demyx playing violin, and Roxas and Naminé talking about Adventure Time, which Roxas had learned he'd inadvertently turned the blonde girl on to.<p>

When Axel entered, he did not do so quietly. In fact, when he and Roxas made eye contact, his face grew very red and he began shouting. "Roxas! Why the fuck are you staying at Marluxia's house? He's a bad person!"

At first, Roxas had been overjoyed to see his beloved, but now he wasn't so sure. He rolled his eyes and considered whether he should respond or not. But while he was still thinking, Zexion piped up.

"Yes, I was curious about that, too. You could stay at my house you know," Zexion informed his friend. '_You should be relying on me more anyway. Marluxia is not your best friend. I am. And I want to be there for you._'

"Marluxia's house is further away from my house, Zexion, and my parents would be extremely pissed if I stayed at your house, Axel. I just need some space for right now, okay? I'm not trying to make them mad," Roxas explained, sounding just as exasperated as he felt.

"Still, you should've come to me first and let me know." Zexion asserted. He seemed very butthurt over the fact that Roxas hadn't gone to him first, but that pissed off the blond a little seeing as he _had_ gone to Zexion first. He'd been fucking Demyx at the time, though, so he figured to look for help elsewhere.

"I _did_ go to your house first. You were having a grand old time with Demyx in your room, so I called Marluxia instead. It's not like I was gonna interrupt you while you were having sex," Roxas informed his jealous friend.

Axel interjected here, saying, "You should've interrupted them! I don't want you sleeping in the same bed or area as Marluxia when I'm not around!"

"You know, Axel, it gets even better than that," Marluxia teased, waggling his eyebrows at the redhead from his spot at the table, laying his cards face down so he could give this matter his undivided attention. "Poor little Roxas had a teensy tiny wet dream last night. In fact, it was so intense he was sleep-masturbating," the senior informed him.

"_What_?!" Axel demanded, glaring at Marluxia first and then at Roxas.

While Axel was getting all worked up, Roxas felt his entire body turn red in embarrassment. _Everyone_ in the room had heard that he'd had a wet dream the night before. He couldn't believe Marluxia would just blab about that without even asking if it was okay. If Roxas could choose another ability to have at that moment, he would've chosen the ability to meld into the floor and then continue on to the center of the Earth where he'd burn up with all the lava, assuming that the intense pressure and heat on the way down didn't kill him first.

Beneath all this embarrassment, though, Roxas was absolutely pissed. What right did Axel have to judge who he should be around and when? What right did Zexion have to complain when Roxas had done what he could at the time? And what right gave Marluxia the gall to worsen the situation while simultaneously revealing facts about Roxas that he didn't want public? He thought his friends should be his escape from all the bullshit he was going through. But now it just seemed like an extension of it. And he didn't like that, but where else did he have to go? The only person who was mutually okay with him was Riku, and Riku was very occupied with Sora currently.

Roxas got up from his spot on the couch and just left, completely avoiding brushing against Axel as he went. He didn't have the words to say what he was feeling right now, and he definitely didn't have the willpower to confront his three friends in front of everybody.

Unsurprisingly, Axel followed Roxas out, yelling at him as they went.

Quickly, Roxas grew fed up with his boyfriend's yelling, and he spun around to face him angrily. "Shut up!" Roxas shouted. They were currently in front of the house where the driveway met the sidewalk in front of the street.

Axel was taken aback by the smaller boy's sudden outburst. He silenced himself immediately.

"I don't need this right now, Axel! I know you get jealous and I know you get angry, but you're being such a fucking hypocrite right now! You're acting just like Sora!" Roxas accused.

"Don't you dare compare me to Sora! I'm not being like Sora! Sora doesn't know me very well, and I know Marluxia better than you do. I know what he's like. He's forcefully come onto me before, Roxas, and I only got lucky that Demyx showed up in time before I did anything I would've regret. But if you're staying with him, he could do whatever he wanted to you!" The redhead argued.

"Things are different now! Marluxia's not sleeping around anymore because now he's focused on Mr. Price!" Roxas pointed out. "And if he _was_ going to do something to me, why didn't he do it when I was having that wet dream, hm? Why wouldn't he have taken advantage of me then? I was already super horny and with his ability, I probably wouldn't have been able to resist him, but he didn't come onto me a single time!"

The junior remained silent for a moment as he thought this over. "Roxas, I'm just worried about you. It feels like I don't know what's going on with you anymore. You never texted me to let me know that you were going to stay at Marluxia's house; I don't even know _why_ you have to stay with him. Are things really so bad at home?" He placed a hand on Roxas' cheek, but it burned his skin, making Roxas cry out and pull away.

One of the blond's hands unconsciously went up to feel the area where Axel had touched him. The burn lingered, and he couldn't fight it when tears welled up in his eyes, much like when getting hit in the nose. He looked up at Axel to find a horrified look on Axel's face.

"Oh my god, I'm so sorry, Roxas!" Axel fervently apologized. "Holy shit, I'm so sorry. Oh my god, I'm such an idiot, Roxas, I didn't mean to hurt you. I'm so sorry, oh my god. Are you okay?"

Even though it did hurt, Roxas couldn't find it in himself to be mad at Axel. Axel didn't mean to hurt him, after all. That was just a side effect of his ability. Plus, all the apologizing spoke only a tiny portion of the volumes of Axel's guilt. And more than that, Roxas supposed he should have been more communicative with the redhead. Roxas chuckled a little bit and tentatively reached out to touch Axel's face, in case he was still super-hot. Upon realizing that his very confused boyfriend was now much cooler, he got up on his tippy toes and gave him a chaste kiss before wrapping his arms around him and burying the unburned side of his face into his chest.

"I'm fine, Axel," he promised.

Axel audibly let out a sigh of relief and returned the embrace. "I'm sorry, Roxy. I forget how hot my body can be when I'm angry sometimes. I didn't mean to hurt you. I love you. I love you, I love you, I love you," he crooned into Roxas' ear.

"I love you, too," Roxas barely whispered back. Being so close to Axel, his scent overwhelmed the boy and the memory of his wet dream from the night before flooded his mind and he found himself extremely turned on. Without even realizing it until he felt pleasure tingle throughout his body, Roxas grinded his pelvis into Axel's leg. He let out a small moan when Axel reciprocated the gesture.

"Jeez, Rox, you already wanna fuck?" the redhead teased.

Roxas chuckled in response. "Well, I'm not getting any where I'm staying, so yes." Deciding to be a little shit, the blond placed his mouth right at his boyfriend's ear. "I want you," he moaned in a voice that was so sensual it embarrassed him.

A switch seemed to be flipped inside Axel and he pushed Roxas down to the floor so that he landed on his ass in the snow on the sidewalk. He followed his boyfriend to the floor, kissing at his neck.

"Axel! The snow is really fucking cold!" Roxas complained, finding it hard to really focus on the chilling sensation with his lover sucking on his neck like that. He felt his face positively burning at the mere idea of fooling around in public on a sidewalk.

Axel returned Roxas' earlier favor. "You know you couldn't care less about that right now," he murmured in a very sexy, gravelly voice that had Roxas' heart in overdrive.

"Oh fuck," was the only thing Roxas could say. He ran his hands through his lover's hair as the redhead moved to the other side of his neck. His legs automatically wrapped around his aggressor and he moaned when Axel grinded up against him. "Ah-Axel," he breathed. His hands found their way to the older teen's ass and he pressed Axel further against him.

The next several minutes were spent grinding and making out on the concrete until finally Axel pulled out both his and Roxas' dicks from their respective confines so that he could jack the both of them off while Roxas was whimpering and moaning and generally being noisy because of these actions. Neither lasted long, the extensive amount of foreplay already having gotten them fully aroused.

They hugged once finished before finally heading back inside headquarters, completely forgetting that Roxas was covered in snow. Everyone accused them of having sex outside, but both boys denied the claim. Everything else that evening was fine, even though Roxas still felt extremely sexually frustrated.

* * *

><p>Roxas found himself ignoring Marluxia that night and sleeping on the floor in silent protest of what the pinkette had done. Instead of apologizing, Marluxia just found it ridiculous, rolling his eyes and scoffing. The blond didn't understand how Marluxia didn't see anything wrong with what he'd done, so they didn't speak at all that day or the next morning. Roxas had already made plans to go hang out with Axel, so he wouldn't be sitting around in awkward silence with Marluxia.<p>

It seemed like the pinkette already had plans anyway, seeing as he was singing about how he was going to see Vexen as he practically danced out the door. Roxas figured he wouldn't be be apologizing any time soon.

Ms. K definitely noticed the change in Roxas' demeanor, though, while they were having breakfast together after Marluxia had gone. She put a hand on the blond's shoulder and smiled warmly at him. "So what's eatin' you, cutie pie?" she wondered.

Even though Roxas didn't really want to reveal the details and even though Marluxia was her son, he could stop his mouth from saying, "Marluxia's a douchebag."

Luckily she laughed upon hearing his response. "Yes, I guess he can be a jerk sometimes. And I'm guessing he hasn't apologized, has he?" When Roxas shook his head, she nodded. "Yes, that doesn't surprise me. He's pretty stubborn on top of being a jerk. He'll come around eventually, though. Just don't let him get to you, okay dear?"

Roxas just smiled and nodded at her. She knew her son best, so he trusted her judgment. They chatted more about different things for a little while until Axel finally texted him, informing him of his arrival. He eagerly rushed outside to convene with his beloved.

They kissed in greeting before leaving Marluxia's house. Roxas thought that he was just going to be going to Axel's house, but it turned out that his lovely boyfriend had actually planned out a date for them. Their first stop was the movie theater where they paid eight dollars to make out for an hour and a half. They played the arcade games in the lobby for almost half an hour afterwards before heading to the next stop.

Unsurprisingly, they wound up at the café they frequented and got a hot chocolate for Roxas and a white chocolate latte for Axel. It was here that the bulk of their conversation took place.

"So, I know you don't really like talking about it, but can you at least tell me a little bit about what's going on with you right now? I'm worried about my cute little baby," Axel informed him.

Roxas gave a sigh and slumped in his seat, but he couldn't deny his boyfriend's request. It was natural he'd want to know what was going on. "Things are just really bad right now. I got into another fight with my parents and then I got Sora in trouble. Sora hates my fucking guts right now. He's sent me so many mean texts and voicemails and he even shoved me into some lockers yesterday. I just need some time away to let things cool down. My parents hate you now more than ever, so I can't stay with you. And Zexion's house is just too close. I promise if there's a problem with Marluxia, I'll tell you right away. But for now, this is how I think it should be," the blond explained.

Axel took a moment to consider this and then nodded his head begrudgingly. "Okay. If you think that's the best way, then I trust you." He seized Roxas' hand on the table and began stroking the top of it with his thumb. "I love you, Roxas. I'm sorry I got mad and yelled at you, and you'll never know how sorry I am that I hurt you."

Roxas felt his face burn and he smiled uncontrollably. "I love you, too, Axel. And of course I forgive you. Sometimes you can be a jealous jerk, but I kind of like that about you. You're just really protective. I love you." The blond found himself gushing. He really couldn't keep all of this in, and he didn't know why. He thought again of the wet dream he'd had the other night and shuddered. He didn't know why they hadn't gone further than handjobs yet. Maybe he wasn't sure about sex quite yet, but he was sure he could handle oral just fine. He'd done it with Zexion, and with Axel it was sure to feel ten times as good. Everything with Axel was ten times as good.

"I love you, too, Roxas. I really, really love you. Like, so much." In the low-light, Axel couldn't have looked more inviting with his eyes half-lidded like that, and his shoulders angled like that with his hands on the table like that, with his mouth hanging open like that.

The moment struck Roxas. It struck him hard. Maybe his home life wasn't the best. And maybe his friends had pissed him off a little. But he just suddenly felt so _lucky_ to be sitting here across from his gorgeous lover with his heart pounding in his chest like a bass drum. They were completely in love, and he wanted to do backflips and jumping jacks, but more than that he wanted to snuggle and hug and make love. Roxas swallowed hard, trying to clear some of the emotion from his throat.

"Axel, can we go back to your place?" he wondered, his voice sounding weak and innocent. So opposite of how he felt.

Axel's eyebrows shot up for a fraction of a second. Hastily he grabbed his and Roxas' empty cups and was hurrying over to dump them into the trash. Roxas followed behind him, since the trash can was right next to the front door.

The ride to Axel's house was quiet and heated and the air simmered with unspoken passion. Axel's hand did stray from the steering wheel, though, and found its way to Roxas' thigh where it squeezed and stayed firmly in place.

The second Axel turned off his truck once he'd parked, he and Roxas began sloppily making out. They couldn't care less about the mediocrity of the skills they displayed because the more important thing right now was the fact that they were kissing at all.

Roxas whimpered when Axel's hand found its way to the back of his skull, holding him there intensely. He immediately submitted and surrendered any and all control he had to his boyfriend, who had now straddled Roxas' lap after clumsily climbing over the center console. He made use of the seat's reclining capabilities, pushing back the plush structure until it touched the backseats, putting Roxas in a position of being completely pinned and fully underneath Axel.

A soft moan escaped Roxas' lips when Axel fully embraced him against the cushions and his hands found Axel's back, pulling at his sweater as if that would help them become closer. The sound of his boyfriend's heavy breathing made him dizzy with pleasure and his heart was banging so loudly in his chest he thought a jailbreak might be in the cards for his internal organs. He tried to calm himself down because he couldn't believe how worked up he was right now. In all their time together, Roxas couldn't recall ever being this needy or restless. In fact, he doubted he'd ever been so turned on in his life.

"Axel," the blond murmured, his boyfriend's name making his lips tingle.

Axel pulled away from his position of stuffing his face up against and into Roxas' hair. "Hmm?" he wondered as he looked at Roxas through hooded, dark eyes.

The younger boy really had to work to keep his head from spinning just long enough to form a coherent sentence. "Make a mess of me, please," he requested in that weak, quiet voice once he'd gotten the words in order.

Axel smirked at the boy below him. He pushed up Roxas' shirt, the fabric making Roxas' skin tickle. "Wow, you really want it, don't you?" The redhead teased in a low voice. "You want me to touch you so badly right now, huh?"

The words went straight to Roxas' groin, and he had to ascribe that mostly to the tone of voice Axel had used. Axel seemed so different right now. It was a strange moment of clarity for Roxas, comparing regular Axel with sexy Axel. His overall demeanor was so arrogant and cocky and confident and everything he did was sly and mischievous. This realization took place somewhere at the back of Roxas' mind, because his head was far too swamped to pay much attention to it.

Instead of answering verbally, Roxas nodded fervently at his boyfriend, running a trembling hand down his boyfriend's chest. "Axel," he crooned. "Axel!" he repeated, but in a loud whine this time because now Axel was tracing a finger over Roxas' chest and stomach, teasing the poor blue-eyed boy. He was very much not in the mood for teasing, so he grabbed Axel's trailing hand and removed it from his person.

"Axel, let's go to your room," Roxas murmured, feeling very cramped inside his boyfriend's truck. He cupped Axel's cheek with a gentle hand. "I don't want to fool around in here, okay?"

Axel nodded, but stole one final kiss before he awkwardly maneuvered himself out of the vehicle. Roxas was not far behind and they went off together, hand in hand.

Luckily, Reno wasn't home, they discovered upon entering the apartment, so they went right to Axel's room, Axel trailing so close behind Roxas that their pelvises almost touched.

In a flash of inspiration, Roxas slipped around and behind his boyfriend and pushed him into his darkened bedroom (thanks to the thick curtains). He closed and locked the door and then proceeded to stare at it for a moment as he worked up the nerve to act. When he'd finally talked himself up to it internally, he turned around to find Axel there sitting on the bed, waiting expectantly for the blond to straddle his lap. But Roxas had other plans.

Slowly, he approached his lover while his heart pounded in his throat. He couldn't believe he was about to do this, but he felt so empowered at the same time. Instead of climbing onto the redhead like Axel expected, he dropped down to his knees between the lanky teen's legs, maintaining strong eye contact with him all the while. He steadied himself with his hands on Axel's thighs.

Suddenly, he was up on his feet again, back slamming against the door. Surprise made him cry out and as he fell against the door his stomach dropped. He felt his heart sink and he felt so stupid and confused as he looked up at Axel, who was now standing up and whose expression was twisted up with mortification and horror. And that made Roxas feel even more ashamed and stupid. Any and all arousal he had before was gone now and he felt his eyes begin to burn with the prickly sensation of wanting to cry.

"Um, sorry," the blond apologized through his tightly constricted throat.

Axel didn't stop him when the blond turned and left because Roxas was just too humiliated to even try to ignore what had just happened. The fact that Axel didn't say a single word or make a single move made the fact that he'd been rejected sink in much faster and deeper. He'd never felt like this as a result of rejection before. This was a very different kind of rejection that he'd never quite experienced before and it had him questioning everything about him and Axel and about their relationship.

When Roxas got down to floor level of the apartment complex, he sat on the curb for a good twenty minutes with tears wanting to roll down his cheeks. Subconsciously he was waiting for Axel to come to him and tell him everything was alright and to comfort him. After he realized that wasn't going to happen, he texted Marluxia, asking the pinkette to come pick him up. His earlier anger at the senior was far less important right now.

Faithfully, Marluxia pulled up in the parking lot about fifteen minutes later, during which Axel still didn't show. Thus, Roxas just climbed into the vehicle and practically sank into the seat. Thankfully, Marluxia didn't ask any questions. He just regarded Roxas with a strangely heated stare before turning his attention to the world outside his windshield.

Roxas was too distraught to notice the blankness on his forehead. All he could do was replay the scene over again in his head and he couldn't unsee the emotion Axel had cast down upon him. He'd fucked up really badly. Axel had told him that he was fine with going slowly, so he should've just heeded his boyfriend's previously shared wishes. How could he have put Axel in that situation? What was wrong with him? More than that, why _didn't_ Axel want a blowjob from the blond? Did he not like Roxas? Or maybe he thought Roxas would be bad at oral sex? Or maybe it wasn't any of those and maybe it was just that Roxas hadn't asked his boyfriend first. The guilt tore him apart and it was only the sound of the engine dying down that brought the blond out of his self-induced torment.

When he looked up, Roxas immediately realized with surprise that they were at the park in Marluxia's neighborhood that they'd come to with Naminé and Larxene when they'd taken pictures. Confused, Roxas looked over to Marluxia.

"Marluxia? Why are we here?" the boy wondered.

The look on Marluxia's face was faraway and strange. His eyes had a glassiness to them that Roxas hadn't seen before, and the rest of his face was taut with unreadable emotion. The only indication that he'd heard Roxas' questions was when his eyes flicked over in Roxas' direction.

It took a few moments of silence before Marluxia actually spoke.

"What happened with Axel?" he questioned, his voice low and strangely thick.

Immediately, Roxas' mind returned to the event. He looked down at his hands in his lap guiltily. "I tried to give Axel a blowjob, but he really didn't want one," the younger boy responded. It sounded even dumber out loud than in his mind. He couldn't believe how much of an idiot he was to go ahead and try something that intimate without even consulting Axel beforehand.

Sudden warmth once again fetched Roxas from the darkness of his thoughts. Marluxia was leaning down close Roxas, studying his face intensely with that same strange expression on his face. This time Roxas noticed the blankness of his forehead.

A strange feeling overcame the boy and he suddenly felt flustered and sheepish. His face burned and he tried to look away from Marluxia, suddenly hyperaware of the senior's breath on his face and the somewhat flowery, but mostly masculine scent that wafted from him. His stomach flipped over, but not in an unpleasant way. Marluxia certainly was very alluring.

Marluxia's hand was on his chin, guiding Roxas to meet his gaze. The pinkette's cobalt eyes burned into Roxas', making the sophomore's insides turn to mush.

Roxas didn't remember closing his eyes, and he didn't remember when their lips first touched, but he did recall Marluxia's tongue sliding over his own and he did recall the older boy's hand on his face and the other on his chest. Roxas found his own arms wrapped around Marluxia's neck.

Pleasure overwhelmed every fiber of Roxas' being and he was sure he'd never experienced anything quite like this before. He moaned quietly as Marluxia's hand roved over his chest and had to break their kiss to gasp when the hand snaked under his shirt, warmth spreading from its touch.

Clearly not wanting to give his mouth any kind of break, Marluxia moved to kissing at Roxas' neck and whispering dirty things into his ear whenever he got the opportunity.

A strange sense of surrealism paused time for a moment, and at the back of his mind, Roxas got scared. This wasn't him. He didn't feel this way for Marluxia. These feelings were certainly not Roxas'. He only felt like this for Axel.

And this massive pleasure he was getting… Marluxia may have been good at sex, but this was far beyond that. This was better than any orgasm Roxas had ever experienced, and it was just kissing.

With a sudden moment of clarity as Marluxia reattached his mouth to his and his tongue tangled with the blond's, Roxas came to the shocking and upsetting realization that _Marluxia_ _was_ _using his ability on Roxas_. Knowing that, he suddenly jolted back into consciousness and regained control of his emotions and actions.

Roxas roughly pulled away from Marluxia, pushing at the older teen to get away from him. Fear struck at his heart like lightning, making his breathing shallow and ragged. He couldn't believe this. He couldn't believe Marluxia would do this to him. He'd trusted Marluxia. And now Marluxia was doing this to him. A sudden sob ripped through Roxas' throat when Marluxia wouldn't back off.

"M-Marluxia, s-stop!" Roxas stuttered, his voice shaky with tears and terror. He was pushing desperately against Marluxia. That didn't seem to be working, though, because Marluxia was still whispering things into his ear and that feeling of pleasure and light-headedness began to wrap its ethereal tendrils around the blond once more. Desperation drove Roxas to clawing at Marluxia's neck, which made the senior immediately pull away and glare at Roxas.

Forever after, Roxas wouldn't be able to get that hateful glare out of his memory. It was so cold and unfriendly that it burnt a picture into the blond's brain. But he tried to recover quickly to take advantage of this opening, which he did by slamming Marluxia in the face with the heel of his palm. This made an even bigger opening, during which Roxas managed to hastily undo his seatbelt and then open the car door, spilling out onto the floor clumsily.

Once he hit the ground, Roxas was immediately on his feet sprinting away from the scene and away from Marluxia's house. As he sprinted, he quickly pulled out his phone from his pocket and hastily scoured his contact list for someone he could call. Finally, he found someone he could call that could drive and didn't currently hate his guts.

An alarming amount of relief overcame Roxas when Riku answered.

"Hello?" He sounded confused and somewhat surprised.

"Riku...!" Roxas exclaimed through his panting, still sprinting down the street. He decided to duck behind some bushes in case Marluxia spotted him while he was talking with Riku.

"Roxas? Are you okay? You sound pretty frantic," the silverette pointed out.

"No! I'm not okay...! I really, really need someone _right this second_ and everyone else hates me right now! Please, please, please come pick me up I'm freaking out right now!" Tears were streaming down his face now in a way that they never really had, and Roxas didn't know whether to attribute it to his current guilt, his terror, his relief, or just stress in general.

Immediately, Riku's tone changed from confused to very comprehensive and determined. "Okay, where are you right now?"

Roxas explained he was in Marluxia's neighborhood and then gave Riku the number of the house he was currently squatting in front of. He was far too frenzied to get up and look around for street signs. Plus, his legs felt so jelly-like and fatigued, he doubted he could've gotten up if he'd wanted to. Luckily, Riku seemed to understand that that was the best he could do and promised that he was on the way.

The time he spent waiting for Riku felt like an eternity of wildly keeping on the lookout for Marluxia or his car. He didn't know what he'd do if the pinkette came after him. He didn't think he could run anymore. Again, luck was on his side because Marluxia never showed up. And when Riku arrived, Roxas tried to get up and walk over to the silverette's car, but he couldn't and stumbled onto the driveway of the house, scratching his cheek up.

Alarmed, Riku hastily exited the vehicle, motor still running, to go help up the younger boy. He managed to help Roxas into his BMW and then they were off, speeding away from the area.

"Roxas, what happened? Why are you so freaked out right now?" the silverette wondered.

The moment Roxas was secure in the vehicle, he began sobbing and trying to hide his face in his hands. He was so overcome with emotion that he couldn't even try to answer his savior. Sobs made his body convulse and his breathing was wild and lacked any sort of rhythm. Roxas had never cried like this in front of anyone before, and he could count on one hand the amount of times he'd cried like this after the age of eight years old. Thus, on top of everything else, the blond felt extremely embarrassed to be completely wailing in front of Riku like this. The fact that he had no control over it made the whole thing even worse.

Roxas' head swam and ached and his eyes hurt from rubbing so roughly at them. He was glad that Riku didn't keep trying to get him to talk, probably aware that the blond just couldn't converse at the moment. They must've pulled over or something, because Riku's arms were around Roxas, guiding the blond's face to his chest.

Perhaps Roxas should've been more alert considering what had just happened with Marluxia, but Riku gave off such a different vibe that even in his disoriented state Roxas could sense it.

After a long while of Riku shushing and comforting Roxas, the younger boy finally calmed down enough that he could explain what had happened. He wiped at his eyes to clear them of the last heavy tears that fell before clearing his throat a little bit and sheepishly pulling away from Riku. He couldn't believe he'd been crying on his brother's boyfriend's shoulder. How humiliating.

"W-well, I had a date with A-Axel earlier," the sophomore began, still sniffling a little even though the tears were mostly gone. "And we had a lot of fun, so w-we decided to go back to h-his h-house to fool around a little bit." He buried his face in his hands, too mortified to even look at Riku as he explained, "I got on my knees to give him a blowjob, but we've never had oral sex together before. A-and when I got on my knees he pushed me away, a-and he looked at me like I was an absolute i-idiot. A-and so I called Marluxia to com-come get me because I'm staying at his h-house for a little bit b-because S-Sora and my parents h-hate me right now."

A hand gently graced Roxas' shoulder, and he once again found himself drawn to bury his face into Riku's chest. "A-a-and when Marluxia p-picked me up," the blond continued, finding that his hysteria was beginning to return a little bit, "h-he took us to a p-park instead of to his h-house, and I got v-very confused, b-but when I-I a-asked him, he started kissing me! And he-he, w-well, he used his p-power on me! H-he ch-charmed me into m-m-making out with him, even though I don't l-like him like that!" The blond's voice was hoarse and he let out a lone sob before continuing, "A-and when I realized what he was do-doing, I managed to break free of the po-wer over me. A-nd I started resisting him, b-but he ignored me when I asked him to sto-op! S-so I had to scratch-tch him to get him to stop, and then I hit hi-im in the face."

When Roxas' voice died away, Riku began stroking the blond's hair comfortingly. The silence comforted Roxas in a way. It just seemed safe in the silent atmosphere with Riku gently carding his fingers through his blond locks. And yet, even though it felt nice, Roxas' heart panged for Axel. He never felt safer than with Axel. And now he didn't have that option. So he buried himself deeper into the silverette, clutching desperately at his shirt.

The sun had mostly lowered itself beyond the horizon by the time Roxas had calmed down again. He was sure he'd fallen asleep in Riku's arms at some point, but luckily, Riku was kind enough to just hold him and they were in the same position when he woke up as when he'd fallen asleep.

Sullenly, he pulled away from the older teen. Roxas was too sad and embarrassed to thank him, but in his heart he felt the greatest depths of gratitude. He didn't know how yet, but he would definitely have to do something to return the favor. In the meantime, though, he slumped back into his seat and twiddled his thumbs a little bit. He kept his gaze trained on his lap.

"Axel's a dick. Don't you worry about him, okay? He's just a huge idiot, so you shouldn't be embarrassed about what you did. Besides, any sane person would either accept the blowjob or respectfully decline," Riku assured him. "So don't feel embarrassed. Feel angry."

Roxas nodded at that. He could see anger at the redhead in his near future.

"And as for Marluxia, I don't really know how you want to handle it. If you feel strongly enough, you could go to the police. Marluxia's eighteen, so he'd get in trouble for statutory rape. But if you want, there are other smaller ways to get back at him, if you feel the need for revenge, that is," the silverette explained. "If you don't think it's that big a deal or if you're still unsure about what to do, maybe just try to avoid him until things are clearer. I won't tell anyone what happened unless you ask me to, so if you need someone to talk to later, call me. I'll always be there for you, Roxas. Even when nobody else is." Riku punctuated his offer with a warm, gentlemanly smile.

Roxas nodded and gave a small, forced smile. Even though he'd known Riku was a nice person, he couldn't fathom why he'd be so caring towards the blond. He didn't seem at all uncomfortable with the fact that Roxas had turned to him out of everyone else.

"Damn, I wish Axel was more like you," the blond griped, his voice hoarse from all the sobbing he'd done.

Riku smiled in response and then started up the car again.

As the senior put the car into gear and began pulling away from the side of the road, Roxas realized he didn't really have anywhere to go but home. There wasn't really much other choice but to face his parents and Sora. In his current state, he definitely wasn't ready for that, but there was nothing else to be done. He couldn't stay with Demyx and Naminé because neither Seifer nor his parents would allow that, given the last time he'd stayed there. Zexion was still miffed at him about choosing Marluxia over him in the first place and had his own issues to deal with right now. Larxene was unavailable for obvious reasons, namely that she was Marluxia's best friend and had formerly hated him and lived in the same neighborhood as him. And as for Riku, both his parents _and_ Sora would be violently angry if he stayed at his house. So as much as he didn't want to, it looked like he'd have to face the music.

"Take me home, please," Roxas requested upon reaching his conclusion.

Riku just nodded and began heading in that direction. Silence reigned supreme for the remainder of the ride. When they arrived, Riku gave the blond a hug goodbye and wished him luck with his family before driving off.

With a breath of preparation as Roxas stood in front of the door, he entered the home. Currently it was about 7:15, so it made sense that he could smell and hear the sounds of dinner being prepared in the kitchen. A strange sense of relief filled him as he stood in the doorway taking his shoes off. Usually the Strife family didn't remove their shoes, and it was a somewhat new custom because of all the snow outside. He considered it for a moment, hoping that if he kept acting and thinking normally, then he wouldn't have to explain himself to his family. He just wanted things to be normal again, even if Tifa went back to treating him like the redheaded stepchild. Even that was better than all this craziness.

As Roxas was standing here, Cloud began descending the stairs and spotted his son in the entryway. His eyes widened in surprise and a small smile unfurled on his face. '_Looks like Roxas has calmed down enough to come home. I'm happy._'

Roxas smiled back at his father, feeling a little guilty about not wanting to come home originally. It was just nice to know that even if things were confusing and stressful right now, his father did still love him under all the bullshit. He felt a bit better about the day, and the fact that he'd been first rejected and then molested seemed just a bit smaller because he knew his father loved him. It made him feel like he didn't have to rely solely on Riku now. Though he doubted he'd tell his father about anything that'd happened.

If Cloud ever found out what happened with Marluxia, he'd probably want to kill the pinkette, or hire a hit man to do it for him. His father had always been protective like that. As for the Axel thing, he'd probably just feel uncomfortable and maybe suggest to Roxas that maybe rejection wasn't such a bad idea, if only his own sake. Not that Roxas could blame his father currently. The pain of rejection had dulled a bit and later Roxas knew that hurt would turn into anger, so he found himself on board with thinking negatively of his boyfriend.

Regardless of the thoughts of how his father might react, Roxas and Cloud met in the hallway between the stairs and the entryway and hugged. Roxas felt warmth wash over him and he smiled against his father's chest. It was normally rare for them to be so affectionate with each other, and even rarer for them not to be screaming at each other as of late.

"How are you doing?" Cloud wondered, pulling Roxas tighter against him.

Roxas shrugged as much as their position would allow. "I've been better," he responded vaguely. He knew his father would be fine with just leaving it as that. He missed that about his father. That unobtrusive caring where Roxas could go to him if something was wrong, but he didn't have to inform the older man of every little thing he did in a day.

Things were so fucked up right now from what they had been before. So incredibly fucked up. Roxas probably couldn't admit it to anyone, himself included, but he seriously wondered if things would actually get better or if things would just fall into disrepair from too much trauma.

Maybe what Mrs. Bates had said happened a lot to other families would become their future. Maybe Cloud and Tifa would get a divorce because things couldn't be resolved. And maybe Cloud would take Roxas and maybe Tifa would take Sora. Would that be such a bad thing? If everyone was happy, was it bad for things to change so drastically? Maybe that was the middle ground of this situation. Maybe that was necessary. Maybe they should stop fighting this uphill battle that they were clearly losing. How many limbs would they lose before they accepted the nature of their situation? Roxas wondered.

The two blonds separated eventually, both feeling a little sheepish at the display of affection.

"Do you want to help me set the table? Your mother's cooking tonight and Sora's not home yet," Cloud explained.

"Sure." Roxas nodded. He felt immense guilt at how relieved he was when he heard that Sora wasn't home. It wasn't good that he was happy his brother wasn't around. That put Sora in the same category as Tifa, and that didn't sit well with him. Roxas didn't want to feel these negative emotions towards Sora, but at the same time, the brunet kept pushing him and pushing him. Even throughout his whole ordeal with Axel, Marluxia, and Riku, Sora had continued to send him angry texts every once in a while.

Tifa regarded Roxas strangely for a moment when the father and son entered the kitchen. She didn't say anything, though, just tilted her head to the side before turning her attention back to the stir-fry cooking on the stove. '_I guess Roxas missed us. Maybe._' She smiled a little bit as she cooked. '_Maybe he doesn't hate me, then._'

That thought reassured Roxas a little bit. He thought he'd be coming back to a disgruntled household, but maybe taking a couple days away from the house had a been a good thing after all. Everyone seemed to have calmed during that period of time.

It only took a few minutes for Cloud and Roxas to set the table, and they kind of just sat in silence at the table until the food was ready. Surprisingly Sora still wasn't back yet by the time they began eating. Usually it was Sora who was there to help set the table for dinner and usually it was Roxas who walked in after they'd begun eating.

Thus, an awkward situation was created. Without Sora there to talk, nobody did. And the silence was just filled with unspoken words and conversations that Roxas was dying to have. And he was sure his parents felt the same way, but none of them really knew how to interact as a group.

Eventually Sora came bouncing into the kitchen and grabbed his plate. He didn't even see Roxas as he poured himself a drink until he finally spun around to take his seat. When he did spot his twin, his face immediately hardened and he narrowed his eyes. "Oh. _You're_ here," the brunet practically growled.

Roxas didn't know how to respond to that hateful tone. It was very rare that Sora was this angry with him. Even when they'd had those altercations originally over whether Roxas could be friends with Axel Sora hadn't been this mad. This was a cold kind of anger rather than the warm explosive kind that had stemmed from just being overly protective of his twin. This kind of anger was not directed at some third party. All of it was focused on Roxas.

It made Roxas feel twice as bad as he already did and he kept his eyes trained on his plate. If he spoke now, he knew his voice would be weak. The lump from earlier had returned, and Roxas' throat already felt fragile and spent after that intense sobbing he'd done.

"Why are you even here?" Sora snorted as he sat down. "Don't you have someone _else's_ house to crash at or something? Or maybe you have someone _else's_ relationship to ruin?"

Roxas glared up at his brother, tears prickling at the corner of his eyes. The feelings of the day once again washed over him. He'd ruined two relationships today. His own with Axel by trying to go further than the redhead had wanted, and then Marluxia's relationship with Vexen, because now Marluxia was a cheater and it was _his fault_. "_Don't you fucking say that_," he breathed in response. He shook his head as a tear managed to escape. "I-I didn't mean to," he practically whimpered. He hadn't even considered how this would affect Vexen at all, and the scientists' reaction when he heard played in front of the blond's eyes. And he could just see the heartbreak in those emerald eyes. Because Vexen would hear of this eventually and their relationship was already unstable.

The present abruptly got his attention because Sora had jumped.

Now Sora was eyeing Roxas worriedly and with great shock on his face. "Whoa, Roxas," his voice trailed away as he witnessed the tears rolling down his twin's cheeks.

Embarrassed that he'd started crying _again_, Roxas hid his face in his arms. Wow, today was literally the _worst_ day he'd ever had. He was such a _baby_. It disgusted him. And yet, he couldn't keep the liquid from springing from his eyes. It was like a flood after years of drought. And his shoulders were heaving with his sobs again and a headache clutched at the innards of his skull.

"Roxas, I'm so sorry! I'm really sorry! I didn't mean to make you cry! Holy crap!" Sora was out of his seat in seconds and rushing over to comfort his twin. He did much the same thing as Riku had, guiding Roxas' head towards his chest as he awkwardly bent down to hold the blond. "Roxas, shhh, it's okay, I'm not mad anymore. I'm sorry. I was an awful brother," he murmured into Roxas' ear.

Roxas didn't even want to know what his parents were thinking as they watched their son break down in front of them. He decided to ignore them for now. He shook his head in response to Sora. "It's not that," he cried, with a prominent wailing quality. "I-I just had a r-re-eally bad day…"

"Do you want to talk about it?"

Again, Roxas shook his head. He calmed down much quicker this time than he had earlier. A factor in that had to be the fact that his parents had joined Sora, Cloud knelt down next to Roxas and rubbed his back soothingly, Tifa knelt down next to her husband and ran her fingers through Roxas' hair, massaging and gently scratching at his scalp in a relaxing manner.

When Roxas finally got ahold of himself again he began speaking again. He looked his twin in the eyes and gave a sad smile. "I'm really glad you're dating Riku. He's a really good guy."

Sora blinked confusedly. "Of course. Thank you for saying so."

The rest of the evening passed by in a much calmer manner. There was no yelling or screaming that night in the Strife household. Only gentle conversation and camaraderie that had magically reappeared.

So maybe Roxas had been jumping to conclusions earlier. Maybe their family wouldn't just fall apart. Maybe there was hope. Roxas liked to believe that this night was a symbol of that hope because he didn't know what clearer sign that things were getting better in a roundabout way than the events of this evening. Maybe things would end up being alright.

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><p><strong>AN: **How did you enjoy the chapter, hmm? Hope you liked it.

Again, sorry for the wait. I'll try my best not to let this happen.

As I mentioned earlier, I need a new beta reader, so if you're interested, please let me know. If you offer to beta read, it'd be nice if you could show me a sample of your own writing or if there is already some currently uploaded I'd like to look through that.

Anyway, let me know what you thought of this chapter! Lots of things happened. Woo.

Love you all and have a nice day!


	35. Monster

**A/N: **Hey! Here's an update eight months later! Wow! College and work and stuff!

But yeah, thank you all for sticking with me through this. That's very kind of you all.

Also, thanks to my lovely beta, tumblr user thefinalfrontqueer! She's wonderful and everyone should follow her! I also have a tumblr and I don't think I've ever mentioned that before… My url is the same as my username here.

Anyway, please enjoy this chapter!

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><p>It was serene and surreal to watch the dust particles floating about in the sunlight descending down through the window in absolute silence. Nothing else moved or made sound. The air was chilly with wintery frost that normally would've bothered Roxas, but this morning, his mind was just too preoccupied to care.<p>

The weekend had passed in a fog that plagued Roxas even now early this Monday morning. On Saturday evening after dinner was over, the blond had immediately returned to his room and climbed in bed, shooing away Sora, who didn't stop pestering him for a moment until he finally understood that Roxas just didn't want to talk about his awful day.

Everything that had happened earlier that day played over and over again in his mind. The reality began to set into his weak body, making it feel heavier and more numb by the minute. Roxas was surprised he didn't just sink through his bed and settle in the floor between the first and second stories. He would've given anything for that to become a reality. He would've done anything to become something that just watched people living so that he didn't have to do any of it himself. But that was impossible, so he closed his heavy eyelids and continued to think until he realized his hands had been moving on their own, digging his cellphone out of his pocket. Once he became conscious of what he was doing, he realized he'd typed out a short text for Vexen.

'_Marluxia cheated. I know because he cheated with me. But don't worry, I didn't want it._'

Roxas felt hollowed out when he realized he'd pressed Send without a second thought.

The phrase played over in his mind again and again. '_I didn't want it_.' And he was just so confused. Why would Marluxia ever do something like that? Why would he abuse Roxas' trust like that? Why would he abuse Vexen's trust like that? None of it made sense.

An intense pounding drummed at his brain and clashed against the innards of his head. Roxas didn't realize when he'd received a text from Vexen. Or when he received two more texts. Or when he received four calls and three voicemails. Eventually, black washed over Roxas.

The next morning, Roxas woke up in a cold sweat with vomit rising in his throat. He barely had time to dash into the bathroom before his stomach heaved. All he could remember from the dream was Marluxia's frigid eyes and the intense feeling of something wrong. That feeling of absolute guilt and _wrong_ made him dizzy and nauseous. Everything in Roxas' mind was flickering and darting away.

The sudden sensation of falling overcame him and he heaved into the toilet again before slamming his head into the wall, having completely fallen from his position on his knees into a crouched position against the wallpaper-plastered surface. Dots and zigzags danced before his eyes, and as they came together, Roxas only saw black. The sensations of nausea and dizziness faded.

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><p>When Roxas came to, it felt like it'd been a complete day later, but as it turned out, it'd only been a few short moments because when he opened his eyes, he was still leaning against the bathroom wall with Sora next to him wiping up his face with a wet washcloth and the odor of vomit lingering in the air.<p>

The brunet was saying something, but Roxas couldn't understand him at first, his words sounding gargled, like he was speaking underwater. Eventually, everything came into focus and Roxas realized Sora was calling to their parents for help. Panic sent his heart racing and he hastily pushed Sora away and struggled to stand on his own.

"I'm fine!" the blond assured his twin as he used the wall for support in standing up. He felt so anxious and panicked as he flushed the toilet, but Sora stopped him just before he could run back to their bedroom.

Cloud emerged from the master bedroom at this point looking very concerned. "What's wrong?" he asked as he approached his ailing son, who was currently pressed against the doorframe, clinging to it for life. One of the man's large hands gently landed on Roxas' shoulder and he looked so concerned that Roxas had to look away.

"I'm fine… I just felt a little sick," Roxas murmured. "I just want to go back to sleep. Please let me rest."

Sora and Cloud glanced at each other for a moment before agreeing to let their beloved relative return to bed. Sora followed his twin anxiously.

Roxas didn't wake up again until a few hours later, feeling less sick but still horrible with a headache and the occasional dry-heave. He texted Vexen saying he'd rather discuss things on Monday than that day. That was the only text he answered, though, even though he had some texts from Riku, Naminé, Hayner, Olette and Zexion. There were no texts from the people he wanted to talk to most: Axel and Marluxia.

So instead of talking to his friends, Roxas just let himself wallow around in bed all day. He wasn't entirely sure whether he was actually sick or whether this was just a stress-related incident. Sora brought him food, which the blond felt too ill to stomach, and medicine and generally took care of him. Thankfully, he did keep a respectful distance from his brother and made sure to remain quiet so as not to upset the headache pounding away at Roxas' skull. That was at least one good thing that came about as a result of this morning.

That night, nightmares plagued Roxas. Marluxia kept attacking and killing him and meanwhile Axel stood by and did nothing. No matter how many times Roxas jolted awake and tried to fall back asleep, he couldn't stop falling back into the same nightmares. So eventually, at around 4:30am, Roxas just gave up. He just waited for the sun to rise. And now it had, and the dust particles were dancing in the light like little ballerinas. Fatigue gnawed at his frame, but at least he didn't feel as sick anymore.

* * *

><p>Roxas had hitched a ride to school with Demyx and Zexion that morning. Things were awkward because now Zexion was mad not only about Roxas staying with Marluxia instead of him, he was also upset that the blond hadn't returned any of his text messages. Luckily, he stopped once he realized that Roxas wasn't feeling himself. He sounded concerned, then, but didn't press the situation.<p>

On this particular Monday morning, Roxas was most fearful that he'd see Marluxia around. How was he supposed to act now? He wasn't sure, but he knew for a fact that he wasn't ready to see the senior yet. And he wasn't ready to see Axel today, either. Thus, Roxas loitered around his and Sora's locker until the bell to go to class rang. He didn't want to go to the vending machines and chance seeing either of his problems staring him in the face.

At nutrition, Roxas hid in the library in the back corner where he and Zexion used to make out when they'd still been friends with benefits. He'd hoped to be alone, but somehow, thanks to some unknown force of the universe, Riku found him there lying on the floor in a heap like he'd just passed out. The silverette nudged at his foot gently with his own and sat down next to the blond.

"Roxas, are you feeling alright?" Riku wondered, sounding very concerned.

Roxas shook his head as he slowly sat up and rubbed at his eyes. He didn't exactly plan it, but he somehow ended up curled up against Riku and resting his head against the senior's chest in search of comfort. "I told Vexen about Marluxia. I'm probably going to have to talk to him about it today," the blond informed him.

Riku gave him an extremely sympathetic look. "Poor kid." He ruffled Roxas' hair gently. "Sora told me you got sick. How are you feeling now? Anything you need? I can get you prescription drugs; my whole family's made up of doctors. I can get you Vicodin or codeine or valium, whatever you want."

Roxas couldn't help but chuckle. It was so bittersweet. Here Riku was offering him illegal services just to help him feel better and he couldn't even appreciate it. "I just want Axel," he murmured sadly. "And it'd be nice to know why Marluxia used his power on me like that."

In response, Riku nodded understandingly. "You know what might make you feel better?" he began. "Yelling at Axel. How can you be confused about Marluxia if you're spitting fire at Axel? Plus, it might help you get some rid of some stress. You have way too much of that going on right now. It's hard to watch you suffer."

The blond glanced down at the floor before his gaze returned to Riku's face. He was so confused about everything, and he was appreciative that Riku was doing all of this for him, but it didn't make much sense to him. "Why do you care so much anyway, Riku? I don't get it. Like, I knew you were a nice guy, but this just… seems excessive."

"Hm," Riku chuckled a little bit, "I guess it's because I feel like with you and Zexion being so close and all, and with how alike you are to Zexion and me, it's kind of like you're part of my family. And if you're part of my family, that means there's probably something seriously wrong with your mental faculties. Everyone in our family is extremely susceptible to depression, alcoholism, and the works. But you're surprisingly resilient. And I have hope for you." He ruffled Roxas' hair again. "And also, it's not like there's anybody else who's a truly neutral party in all of this. Everyone else has a side in this or an influence of some kind. I'm pretty removed from the situation, though, while knowing everything that's happened. So I feel like I should offer myself to you if you need someone. And I just kind of feel like I want to help people with their problems more." He paused a moment before continuing. "Personally, I've had a lot of help with my own issues. I guess I just kinda wanna help others too, you know?"

Roxas nodded as he rubbed at his eyes again and pushed away from Riku. He got to his feet and began brushing his pants off. "Okay. I'll yell at Axel during lunch," he mumbled before he stalked off to show up early to his next class. He promptly fell asleep at his desk once he arrived and remained that way until the end of class.

* * *

><p>"Get out of my classroom, Marluxia! You are excused for today, so please leave!" Mr. Price was shouting as Roxas entered his fourth period chemistry class. He only caught of glimpse of Marluxia rolling his eyes before he was out the other door leading into the hallway. Even with that small glimpse, though, Roxas saw that Marluxia had red scratch marks on his neck that it looked like he'd tried to cover up with makeup, as well as a bruise on the side of his face, which also looked like he'd tried to cover it up.<p>

Roxas' heart pounded in his chest as he slowly sat down in his seat near the back. He couldn't believe that he'd actually inflicted lasting damage onto the pinkette. He also couldn't believe how hostile Mr. Price had been towards him. Honestly, though, seeing the pinkette… wasn't as bad as the blond thought it'd be. He was still extremely confused and wary of the senior and couldn't help but feel like there was something missing that he just didn't get. Marluxia's forehead_ had_ been completely blank at the time, and he'd been acting kind of strange before anything had happened.

"Can you believe what happened to Marluxia?" Zexion's voice was suddenly right next to Roxas, startling him out of his thoughts and making him jump. At some point, the bookworm had sat down at his desk next to the blond and begun fishing out his homework from the weekend.

"Huh?" the blond was confused. There was no way Zexion knew about what'd actually happened. Unless either Marluxia or Riku had told…

Zexion looked at his friend with a puzzled expression as he placed his pencil bag on his desk. "He didn't tell you what happened?" '_I thought for sure Roxas would've been the first to know about this._'

Roxas shook his head curiously. Had something else happened to Marluxia that Roxas didn't know about? Was that why he'd been acting so strangely? Or was the older teen giving out excuses about why his face and neck were injured?

"Apparently, he got into some sort of fight and lost. Marluxia's been keeping mostly to himself. I think his pride is injured. And it looks like he's also fighting with Vexen, seeing as he just got kicked out of class. I'm surprised you don't know anything about it. Marluxia usually talks about these kinds of things with you, doesn't he?" The bookworm tilted his head curiously at Roxas, who just shrugged.

There was no way Roxas was going to tell Zexion about what'd happened. At least not now. Currently, the fewer people who knew, the better. He still wasn't quite sure how to feel about what'd actually happened and he didn't want to go spreading misinformation. Roxas had never seen such a monstrous side of Marluxia before. It was those eyes that scared Roxas most of all. That hateful glare. He shuddered just thinking about it.

"Roxas," Mr. Price's voice broke the blond out of his thoughts, causing Roxas to look up at his chemistry instructor, "I'd like to speak with you after class." He maintained a poker face, probably so that it didn't throw any red flags up for Zexion. '_We're going to discuss what took place between you and Marluxia. I need the details._'

Roxas just nodded. There was nothing else he could really do. Besides, maybe talking things through with Mr. Price would help him feel better. Mr. Price, despite looking intimidating, was a very nice and understanding person. And since he was older, maybe he'd be able to offer a bit of a different perspective based on his experiences. It was also possible that Mr. Price knew why Marluxia had been acting so weirdly. Maybe something had happened between them earlier that day.

* * *

><p>Once everyone had filed out of the classroom, Mr. Price began collecting the packets from the lab they'd been going over. He remained quiet as he did so, which both comforted and unnerved Roxas. The scientist carefully straightened the packets before filing them away at his desk. At that point, he turned to face the teen, arms crossed over his chest.<p>

"So, please explain to me what happened," Mr. Price requested. He looked extremely concerned, but also hurt. It was understandable. His and Marluxia's arrangement had never been very stable.

Roxas gave a sigh of preparation. Then he explained everything that had happened between him and Marluxia on that day. He kept his gaze on his desk as he recounted the event. He couldn't look his teacher in the eyes as he spoke for fear that he'd see heartbreak in the older blond's eyes. As Roxas finished up his tale, he drew to a close. "I haven't told anyone or done anything about it. I just wanted you to know." Even after what he'd done, Roxas didn't think Marluxia deserved to have his reputation trashed for something he wasn't even sure about. There was something just so strange about the whole thing that he felt like talking about it with a lot of people wasn't the right course of action to take.

Silence filled the room once Roxas had finished talking. He curiously looked up after a few moments had passed and Mr. Price hadn't said anything. The older man was turned away from Roxas, leaning against his desk. One of his hands was in his hair, scratching at his head and the other was steadying him against his desk.

Finally, after a good couple of minutes had passed, Mr. Price turned around, arms once again crossed on his chest. He seemed to be deep in thought as he sighed and approached Roxas. "First of all, I'm extremely sorry this happened to you. I… didn't think it was this bad." His choice of words intrigued Roxas.

"What do you mean 'this bad?'" the student demanded. Hope made Roxas feel lightheaded.

Mr. Price sighed again. "I think this is a side effect of Marluxia's ability. He told me about this a little while ago. I..." he stopped for a moment and paused to think, "I think you should hear this from Marluxia. I want him to know what he's done. And I don't want to be the one to tell him. I don't know if he'd believe me at this point anyway."

If Roxas was confused before, he was utterly perplexed now. "Are you telling me Marluxia doesn't _remember_ what happened?" He was absolutely gob smacked.

"It's very possible. He came to headquarters on Saturday not knowing his neck was all scratched up or that he had a huge bruise on the side of his face. At first I thought it was extremely strange, but now it makes sense." One of Mr. Price's hands found Roxas' shoulder and he squeezed it affectionately. "When you're ready, I think you should talk to him. I know he really confused you, so I think it would do you a world of good."

And with that, their talk was over and it was lunchtime.

Roxas went to his and Sora's locker first to do the usual book exchange, but then headed to the bathroom where he ended up mostly just staring at himself in the mirror angrily. His thoughts had shifted, resting with the little bit of knowledge Mr. Price had given him, over to Axel. Roxas may have made a mistake, but it wasn't like Axel had rejected him in a kindly way. He'd fucking _shoved him into a wall_! And when Roxas was overcome with embarrassment and had practically _crawled_ dejectedly out of the room, Axel hadn't uttered a single word of apology or reconciliation or _anything_. He'd just let Roxas sit outside his apartment building for nearly 30 minutes in the _freezing snow_ while Marluxia had to come pick him up. How much of a dick could Axel be? Seriously. It didn't make sense.

So, with this anger clutched closely within his heart, Roxas went to the vending machines for lunch. Unfortunately, Axel hadn't arrived yet. Only Demyx, Zexion, and Naminé were there, so the sophomore just sat down with his friends, ate his lunch, and festered with anger. He was so outraged and so glad Riku had recommended this because already, this felt good. It felt powerful.

* * *

><p>When a splash of bright red caught Roxas' eye, he snapped his head over in that direction and saw Axel making his way over to the vending machines. If the blond had been looking closely enough, he would've seen the surprise and sadness on Axel's face, but he completely missed it. Instead, he rose to his feet as his boyfriend approached.<p>

"_Axel! How fucking __**dare **__you!"_ Roxas immediately shouted, slamming the tray of cafeteria food out of Axel's hands and onto the floor. He stuck his finger into the redhead's chest accusatorily as he angrily aggressed. "You're such a fucking dick, you know that? You're such a piece of _shit_! I can't believe you'd _do_ that to me!"

At first, for about half a second, Axel seemed taken aback, but almost immediately he went on the offensive, regarding the spilled taco boat covering the floor beneath their feet with disdain. He snapped his head back up and then returned the aggression, encroaching on Roxas' personal space in much the same way the blond had earlier. "What _I_ did to _you_? God, you're _so fucking spoiled_! You're _just like Sora_! You think you're perfect and you think you're just this beautiful little angel that can do no wrong? Well _you did wrong_! And what the hell, why would you throw my food away like that? You're such a little _bitch_ sometimes, Roxas!" Axel roared at the blond, eyes ablaze and burning into the younger boy's. His body heat was so incredible that Roxas could feel it without even touching the redhead.

For some reason, in his subconscious, Roxas hadn't thought that Axel would actually fight back. But the fact that he was _defending himself_ for what he did pissed Roxas off more. He screamed back at the older boy, pouring all the lava from his veins and stomach into his ragged voice. "You think _I'm_ the one who's always acting like a little bitch? What about you, huh? You're _always_ so clingy and overprotective and you're so _annoying_ and you just get under my skin and I fucking _hate it_. In fact, I _hate you_, you stupid fuck!" Roxas' throat hurt a bit from screaming so fiercely, and he noticed at the back of his mind that he was definitely spitting angrily as he spoke.

Axel growled in pure fury and clenched his hands into trembling fists. "_I hate you too, you fucking idiot_!" he screeched in return, eyes crazy and mad.

For a fraction of a second, Roxas' eyes widened at the prospect. He narrowed his eyes at Axel and gave him the dirtiest glare he could muster. "Well, _fine_! If you feel that way, then we shouldn't even _be dating_, should we? Obviously _you can function so much better without me!_" Roxas wasn't exactly sure why these words were coming out his mouth. He didn't want to break up with Axel, but his rage was just too much to handle and he couldn't control himself.

"_Fine_! I guess we're broken up, then! Good riddance, asshole!" Axel snorted before shoving Roxas, effectively burning the blond's shoulder in the process, and turning on his heel to storm away.

The impact of his butt on the ground enraged Roxas further, and he was breathing rapidly and heavily as he also stormed off, heading a different direction than Axel. He just couldn't sit still with all this pent-up anger inside of him. He needed to get somewhere where he could just fucking maul something.

A hand grabbed at Roxas' wrist, and without even looking, the blond knew it was Zexion. Rather than trying to stop his incensed friend, however, Zexion just followed him and kept a tight grip on his arm so he wouldn't be left behind.

Eventually, they wound up in a utility closet in the theater on the complete opposite side of campus. Roxas had never been this way before, but he seemed to luck out because the closet was filled with both cleaning supplies and props from the theater productions. He immediately went to town on a mannequin that was wearing a costume that looked like it hadn't been used in years.

"Roxas, what's gotten into you? What happened with you and Axel?" Zexion finally spoke up once the blond had tired himself and sank down to sit next to his best friend on the floor. The bookworm began trying to lock eyes with Roxas, who was just sitting there with his head bowed between his knees.

The weight of what'd just happened filled Roxas and the worst part was that the only person he could really blame was himself. He'd gone way too far and broken up with Axel by accident. No matter how hurt he'd been before… that was the absolute last way he'd wanted to resolve the problem. Plus, he knew that while Axel was wrong for not trying to explain things, he was also at fault for even pressing his boyfriend without consent. And then the thought that he'd never be held by his beloved hit him and Roxas' throat seized up. He suddenly leaned into Zexion as tears formed in his eyes.

"What did I just do?" he murmured, mostly to himself.

"Roxas," Zexion repeated, carefully placing an arm around Roxas. '_Poor Roxas. God, I feel so out of touch with him. I may have been angry at him, but he just looks fucking miserable._'

"Zexion, I'm such a fucking idiot," Roxas mumbled. He rubbed at his eyes, not wanting to cry _again_. Being the good friend that Zexion was, he didn't say anything when the bell signaling lunch's end sounded. He didn't move a single inch until Roxas finally got up when the last bell of the day rang two hours later. Until then, they just sat there together, Zexion holding the blond while he thought about everything. They didn't speak much, but neither of them minded.

When the two exited the closet, they noticed that there were actually people in the theater who watched as the two boys exited the closet and went on their merry way as if nothing had happened. They watched the end of water polo practice before going their separate ways. Honestly, spending the afternoon with Zexion seemed so awkward and strange. So many things had happened that Zexion didn't even know about that it made Roxas feel almost like he was a different person. They felt miles apart, and he wasn't very fond of that idea, but he didn't know what he could do to remedy that problem without telling the blue-haired boy about everything that was going on. He just didn't really want to share what'd happened quite yet. So many things were still up in the air and he didn't want to bother his friend with his problems, so he just preferred to keep them to himself.

* * *

><p>That night at counseling, Roxas kept to himself, not even paying attention to the things that were being said. He couldn't focus on his family right now. Everything else was too fucked up for him to even think of tackling the beast that was his family's problems.<p>

Eventually, the session called Roxas to the forefront and his family wanted to discuss what'd happened the night he came home and why he was so upset. The blond just scowled and remained silent, thinking about how Axel would've probably offered to make him dinner after the session was over if they hadn't broken up. He considered whether or not he should go through his phone and Facebook and just erase the redhead from his life.

Roxas' silence apparently worried his family and they began fervently asking what was wrong, despite the fact that the blond really didn't feel like talking. His mood darkened and he quickly grew irritated with them. It's not like they would even care, anyway. So he eventually snapped, giving them each a dirty look and growling, "You got exactly what you wanted. Axel and I broke up. That fixes all your shitty problems. You should be happy. Now you don't have to admit to yourselves that I'm gay."

There was no response, which Roxas expected, so he continued to sulk and brood quietly. They didn't bother him after that, despite the fact that Mrs. Bates was now asking about the twins being gay; apparently she hadn't been notified of that small detail.

Despite the fact that none of them said anything about the breakup, all three of Roxas' family members seemed relieved about the end of his relationship with Axel. That just made the blond feel one hundred times worse. The end of the therapy session couldn't come quickly enough.

After it had ended and the Strifes went home and began preparing dinner, Roxas hid in his room under his covers the remainder of the night. He didn't feel like eating, and he most definitely did not feel like answering the texts on his phone, most of which were from Riku and Zexion.

* * *

><p>The next week and a half passed by in a hazy blur of Roxas going to school and coming home and sleeping. During lunch and nutrition, Roxas had taken to sulking in the library with homework that he rushed to complete so he had more time to sulk at home. He avoided his friends like the plague and had gone back to walking to school, even though it was fucking freezing and snow still covered the ground. If he had been in a clearer frame of mind, he would've laughed at himself for not having the effort to deal with anyone but still having the effort to walk to school through the snow.<p>

It was currently Thursday, February 2nd and the Strife household was having dinner together after their therapy session. After three nights of Roxas skipping out on dinner, his family began forcing him to eat dinner with them. He hadn't really talked much to them or anyone during the whole week and a half.

At one point, Cloud had called him downstairs and sat him down on the couch when neither Tifa nor Sora was around, and tried to awkwardly help him settle his feelings after the breakup. Although Roxas appreciated his father's effort, the boy could tell his father was more interested in consoling him of the loss instead of accepting the fact that Roxas still loved and wanted Axel. The older blond made no hint of that. Instead, he explained that there were other people in the world who were better suited to him and that maybe those people were female. But Roxas didn't want to hear that, not at all, so he just stayed silent until the talk ended.

On this particular night, everyone remained quiet. Not even Sora had anything to say; he seemed rather lost in thought. Since everyone was quiet, it was clear when someone opened the front door and entered their house. At first, they were extremely confused and then they all became protective once they realized that someone had entered their home, but that didn't last for very long because Riku and Zexion were suddenly in the kitchen approaching the table with their arms crossed and stern looks on their faces, eyes set on Roxas. They never looked more like they were related than in that moment.

"Riku?" Sora wondered, sounding excited to see his boyfriend.

Riku broke character for a moment to smile at the brunet. "Sorry, sweetheart, I'm here for Roxas. Another time, though."

"What are you two doing here?" Roxas grumbled.

"Yeah, you know we don't want you here, Riku," Tifa growled.

Riku narrowed his eyes at Tifa, but didn't say anything.

"Roxas, this is getting ridiculous," Zexion spoke up, fixing the blond with an icy stare. "I'm not going to let you do this to yourself any longer. You're coming with Riku and I whether you want to or not."

Roxas scowled at his blue-haired friend. The title of 'best friend' didn't seem quite as fitting anymore. "What do you mean it's getting ridiculous? Do you expect me to hang around you guys when I know Axel is there? Besides, I'm the odd one out. I'm the one that doesn't belong. Just let me be."

Riku placed his hands on Roxas' shoulders and made strong eye contact with him. When he spoke he spoke slowly as if to make it easier for Roxas to understand. "Let me make this clear for you. You and Axel are not broken up. You had a fight."

Angrily, Roxas shrugged the senior's hands off of him. "We're definitely broken up. You're the one that told me to break up with him in the first place, so you have no right to tell me what the state of my relationship actually is!"

Not liking that reply, Riku merely replaced his hands on Roxas' shoulders, firmer this time around. "No! I didn't tell you to break up with him! I told you to _yell_ at him! You can yell at someone without trying to cut all ties with them. Kind of like how I'm yelling at you right now!" Riku's tone was very angry and exasperated. He removed his hands from the blond boy and closed his eyes as he turned his head upwards and sighed in frustration. "I can't believe all of this trouble is over a stupid _blowjob_."

In that moment, Roxas was hyperaware of his parent, Sora, and their reactions. They seemed surprised firstly, and before they could reach any other emotional state, Roxas was blushing deep red.

"Wait a minute, you're saying all of this was over a fucking _blowjob_?" Zexion demanded, seeming just as emotionally done as his cousin. Without speaking another word, the bookworm stepped forward knelt down to grab his friend by the legs. Riku joined his cousin, grabbing up the blond by his arms. Together they hoisted him out of his chair and began turning him towards the door.

"Where are you taking me? Where the fuck is Demyx? Shouldn't you be sucking his cock about now, Zexion?" Roxas demanded, outraged. He put up an immense struggle that the two cousins hadn't seemed to anticipate. Riku dropped his arms, and for a moment, the blond thought he tasted freedom as his shoulders hit the floor. Unfortunately, he was grabbed back up again before he could escape.

"Demyx is having much the same chat with Axel as we are about to have with you! Now stop struggling!" Zexion commanded.

"Hah! Like I want to take dating advice from a guy who's still in love with his ex and a guy who's a complete and total slut and has never been in a successful relationship before!" Now, Roxas was well aware that these were low blows, but he was so angry and embarrassed that Riku had brought up the word 'blowjob' in the context of his and Axel's relationship in front of his family. Hadn't his brother's stupid boyfriend promised not to tell anyone what happened? What a fucking hypocrite!

"I'm not still _in love_ with Lexaeus. We're trying to be better friends, is all. There's nothing wrong with treating your ex civilly," Zexion growled.

Riku opted not to defend himself, probably because Riku was a bit more accepting of the fact that he clearly hadn't been a relationship man before meeting Sora.

With much pain and many insults, the two cousins managed to finally carry Roxas into Zexion's room, where they promptly dropped him on his ass. He hissed in pain and rolled on the floor a bit because he'd landed on his head, but his captors didn't seem to care much about that.

"Why can't you guys just leave me alone?" The blond wondered. His anger was fading away to sadness. He couldn't be angry at them for trying to help. Plus, he wasn't even mad about his breakup with Axel, at least not with them. Mostly, he had his anger directed inward and otherwise loneliness clutched at his heart. He wasn't really used to not having anyone to talk to for an entire week or so.

Riku and Zexion looked at each other and sighed. They joined their fallen friend on the floor and began trying to comfort him.

"Look, Rox, I know this is hard on you. You've never been this emotionally invested in a relationship before, have you?" Zexion spoke first. He ran his fingers gently through his best friend's hair, which comforted Roxas a little bit, but not as much as it would have if it was Axel running his fingers through the blond's hair.

A lump had formed in Roxas' throat just thinking about his falling out with his beloved. He nodded in lieu of speaking.

Zexion continued. "My relationship with Lexaeus lasted for a fairly long time, and it was a very good relationship, despite how it ended. And we were very in love and we were very happy. But we still fought sometimes; all couples do. It's important not to let your pride or your perception of the situation cloud your mind, though. That's very easy to do, and it's poison to a relationship."

Riku chimed in at this point and placed his hand firmly on Roxas' arm. "Communication is the most important thing."

"But Axel probably hates me. I couldn't apologize. I'm so embarrassed…" Roxas trailed off. "I made such a fool of myself. And then I treated him like shit. He'll never want to talk to me again."

The cousins released another irritated sigh. "But he _does_ want to talk to you, Roxas! Just as badly as you want to talk to him!" Riku explained.

"Yeah! He's been a total wreck without you. He's been just like you. You're both missing each other and you both think that you're the problem," Zexion agreed.

These thoughts helped slow the turmoil of Roxas' heart a little bit. He hadn't really thought that Axel would be mourning their relationship. If anything, he expected the redhead to be celebrating for dodging a bullet. But that didn't really make sense, thinking about it now. Axel _had_ been in love with Roxas. The blond knew that for a fact.

Just as Roxas started gaining peace from this knowledge, he remembered one thing that shattered it. "But what about Reno? Reno warned me that if I hurt Axel he'd kill me. He's never gonna like me now! I fucked up, he'll never accept me."

"Reno will get over it. He's more distraught because he doesn't know how to make Axel feel better," Riku assured him. "Axel liked you more than anyone else he's dated. He may have been sad when those other relationships fell through, but that sadness was nothing compared to how he feels now. Right now, Reno's willing to do anything to get Axel back to normal. Axel's tears are like the bane of his existence."

Roxas tilted his head at Riku and scrunched his face together in confusion. "Axel's been crying?" The blond received a smack on the head in response.

"Of course he has, you dolt! Come on, let's go confront the beast." Riku got to his feet and offered Roxas a hand, grinning down at the sophomore.

Begrudgingly, Roxas took his hand and allowed himself to be lifted. He really did want to see Axel again and to try to talk things through, but he felt so mortified at the same time. His emotions conflicted and he really just wished things could be better without having to make them better. Still, the thought of having Axel's arms around him was enough to get him to do just about anything at this point. Thus, he wound up sitting anxiously in the back of Riku's car while Zexion tried to calm him down.

The ride was much quicker than Roxas would've preferred, but he tried to ready himself anyway. Halfway through the ride, Riku had called Demyx and informed him that they were on their way, so at least Axel would probably be expecting to see the blond and it wouldn't come as too much of a shock. Roxas wasn't too keen on popping in on Axel unannounced.

Suddenly Roxas, Riku, and Zexion were standing outside of Axel's apartment and Roxas' heart was in his throat and he found swallowing his excess saliva to be very difficult. He wondered vaguely if he'd be able to talk, but then Reno opened the door and Roxas forgot about all of that.

Reno had a stern look on his face and his eyes immediately found Roxas'. _'God damn it, why does this unreliable little shit have to be so important to Ax.'_ The redhead crossed his arms and scowled. "I fucking hate you, Roxas. I hate you so, so much for what you did to Axel. But I'll admit you're probably the only thing that can make him happy right now. So I'll let you try to make up with him, but," he jabbed a finger roughly into Roxas' chest, "if it doesn't work, I'll probably beat the shit out of you."

Even though he didn't want this immense pressure on him, Roxas nodded anyway. He just needed Axel and then everything else would be alright. He could deal with that later. And with Roxas' silent acquiescence, Reno opened the door and called out for Demyx and Axel as Roxas and the two cousins filed into the room, the blond anxiously pulling at his sleeves.

A few long seconds later, the sound of a door opening in the hall reached Roxas' ears. His heart immediately started racing and his stomach began doing flips. He wasn't entirely sure what he was going to say to Axel, but he was sure he'd be able to think of it when the time came. That didn't seem to matter when it came down to it, though, because as soon as Axel and Roxas made eye contact, they rushed to each other and began hugging each other very tightly.

Axel's scent fell over Roxas in a rush of air and his body heat washed over the blond and these were things that made him feel right at home. They hugged only briefly, because then they found themselves kissing. Normally Roxas would've felt far too embarrassed to kiss Axel like this in front of other people, but the redhead's scent and general presence excited him far too much to avoid giving into his desires.

They broke apart suddenly, and when they did, choruses of apologies over their fight and claims to the blame left their mouths. They hugged more as they apologized and Roxas felt like his knees might give out and he might start crying. He could hardly comprehend the sheer amount of relief that had overwhelmed him as a result of Axel's warm welcome. Although he had felt dumb and although he still thought Axel was partially in the wrong, he had to admit that holding his boyfriend again was very nice and maybe the fight hadn't been worth it, and maybe Riku and Zexion were right about how they weren't _actually_ broken up.

"I love you, Roxas, and I'm so sorry I was such a dick to you," Axel growled almost fiercely into the blond's ear.

"No way, I was the one who pushed you, I'm so fucking sorry. I love you so much," Roxas murmured back, running his fingers through his boyfriend's hair.

After a few minutes of continuing on like that, the high schoolers all sat in a circle on the floor, Roxas and Axel holding hands, while Reno listened in on them from the kitchen.

"Why did you push me away when I was about to… you know…?" Roxas wondered, feeling embarrassed that he had to talk about this in front of everyone. He had a feeling that they'd all refuse to let them talk things through by themselves. They had to spend the past week or so dealing with two heartbroken assholes and now they wanted compensation in the form of watching the problem be resolved in a satisfying way.

Axel flushed red and uncomfortably shifted, scratching at the back of his head. "Well, I was surprised, for one. We hadn't really talked about anything since you said you'd wanted to take it slow, so I was still under the assumption that that was still a thing. But also I just felt really embarrassed because I wasn't properly prepared for it. I like to, you know, um, do maintenance down there?" Axel covered his face with his hand. "And I hadn't done any of that in a while because I didn't think that anything like that would be happening any time soon."

"You know that wouldn't have mattered to me," Roxas mumbled as he felt himself turn red.

"Well, I don't want you to feel like you're flossing your teeth whenever you go down on me!" the redhead argued in exasperation. "Anyway, if you hadn't flipped my lunch on the ground and gotten Sora to beat the shit out of me, I would've apologized! I felt really bad about it and I was just really embarrassed, but I was still gonna apologize until you blew everything out of proportion."

This new information confused Roxas. "Sora beat you up?" he questioned, tilting his head. "I swear I didn't ask him or tell him to. He must've done it on his own. Are you alright?" The sophomore ran his hands gently down Axel's chest as he searched for signs of injury.

Axel shrugged in understanding. "It's fine. He managed to get one good punch to my stomach in, but Riku managed to stop him before he could do anything else."

Roxas knew he'd be angry later and would certainly have a stern conversation with Sora about all of this, but as it was, he just wanted to be with his beloved. "Well, I'm sorry about the lunch, and I promise I'll get Sora back for what he did. I didn't mean to cause so much trouble. But, in all honesty, it would've been easier to forgive you if you hadn't been acting so weird and jealous and mean. I just wish you'd trust me and listen to me better."

The redhead sighed. "I know, I know. I have a problem with that. It's not that I don't trust you, Roxas, it's just that I really care about you. I don't want anything bad to happen to you. I don't trust anything or anyone else when it comes to you and I know that's bad, but I just really love you. I'll work on it, though. I missed you." Axel hugged him tightly, which Roxas easily returned.

* * *

><p>Relief had settled over Roxas by the time Riku dropped him off at home. He would've loved to have spent the rest of the evening with Axel, but Reno still seemed really pissed and he doubted his parents would've appreciated him sleeping elsewhere soon after he'd gone back to sleeping at home every night. Despite how Roxas had hated fighting with Axel, it seemed like they'd reached a better place. It was their first real fight as a couple and Roxas honestly felt pretty good about it. Maybe it'd been petty and they'd over exaggerated the issue, but most of the cause for their problem was that they'd both felt too guilty and ashamed to face each other for their stupidity and that wasn't such a bad problem to have, especially since they had such great friends who were willing to force them to talk things out. After this whole fight shenanigan, Roxas was hopeful for the future. Things seemed better off now.<p>

The blond felt like he was floating as he walked up the steps to his house and entered. A warm feeling resonated in his chest and he felt so at ease. The confrontation had exhausted him, so when he entered the Strife household, his intention was to go straight to sleep.

Upon entering, the eyes of Roxas' family were on him and they all seemed confused by the goofy grin on his face. They were in the living room watching TV together.

"Roxas, are you okay? Are you drunk? You seem… happy for once," Sora so tactfully pointed out.

Normally the blond would've been offended, but at this point, he only thought of Axel and his warmth. "Not drunk, but I'm more than okay. Axel and I got back together. Also, I'm gonna fucking end you later, Sora. Night everyone," Roxas explained offhandedly and punctuated his goodbye with a yawn.

Had Roxas been paying more attention, he would've noticed three pairs of eyebrows shoot upwards. Alas, he was preoccupied by his thoughts and his desire for sleep. He gave in easily to the silent calling of his bed.

* * *

><p>"Good morning, Roxas," Axel murmured through his broad smile. He leaned against the lockers next to the blond's and smiled down at him quite happily.<p>

"Morning, Axel," Roxas returned in the same hushed tone. Their eyes were locked onto each other and Roxas wondered if they'd slipped back into a honeymoon phase since they'd been apart for a while. But he didn't mind as he fidgeted under Axel's sharp green eyes. He'd abandoned retrieving things from his locker and had turned completely to face his partner. They were just standing there staring at each other with dumb grins on their faces.

Eventually, Roxas couldn't take it anymore and damned his disinclination for PDA's for the moment. He had his arms around Axel and he was on his tippy-toes and pressed up against Axel's chest as they kissed. Everything was perfect.

At least until pain radiated from his side as something large and solid hit him once and then twice, causing Roxas to jump back to consciousness. Upon pulling away from Axel, Roxas realized that Sora was yelling and throwing books at them with Riku behind him struggling to restrain him.

"Sora, what the hell do you think you're doing?" Roxas demanded of his red-faced twin.

Sora just growled as he struggled against Riku. "You can't just fucking make out in front of our locker! You can't make out ever! You should've stayed broken up!" the brunet was snarling as he kept distrusting eyes trained on Axel. He shifted his gaze to Roxas and the look changed from distrustful to something more reserved. "Look at what he did to you, Roxas! You were broken for like an entire week! And if Riku and Zexion hadn't interfered, it would've gone on for longer. You're giving him exactly what he wants, Roxas. And soon he'll have you shimmying out of your pants for him!"

Roxas scowled at his twin and turned on his brother. "You know what Sora? Fuck you! You're such a fucking asshole and you're so god damn judgmental and I fucking _hate you_. I can take care of myself, okay? If you can't respect the person I'm dating, then you don't respect me. Don't talk to me anymore until you can pull your head out of your ass, because I really don't want to hear your stupid voice," the blond snarled. He hastily grabbed his books, slammed his locker, and led Axel away by the arm.

As they left, the blond could hear Sora begin yelling at Riku and the whole thing rubbed him entirely the wrong way. "Axel, I'm sorry about Sora. I really don't know why he gets so riled up. You'd think he'd be used to you by now," the sophomore murmured to his boyfriend as they made their way towards the vending machines.

Axel shrugged. "You know, even though I don't like the way Sora treats me, it kinda reminds me of how Reno is with you, but more extreme because like Sora's in a position where he _can_ be more extreme. So I guess I understand it in a way."

"Are you telling me to forgive him?" Roxas raised a brow at his counterpart.

"Fuck no!" Axel easily responded. "It's just, maybe you shouldn't give up on him just yet? I don't know, maybe there's a reason he's such a dick to me, one that maybe isn't so obvious?"

Roxas regarded Axel strangely for a moment. He searched the redhead's forehead for any indication of anything, but found his thoughts largely unhelpful. However, being that Axel had learned how to communicate with Roxas using his power, the blond didn't put it past him to learn how to block Roxas' prying. "Are you saying you know why he's such a dick to you?"

"Uhh, not exactly?" Axel put his hands in his pockets and kept his gaze on the floor.

Roxas couldn't tell if he looked guilty or not, but he decided to let it go anyway. He didn't want to be all suspicious of his partner so soon after getting back together.

* * *

><p>At around 9:30AM that day, Roxas got a text from Riku telling him that he needed Roxas to go to Mr. Price's room at nutrition break for something important. The blond had no idea what Riku could want to talk to him about, especially in Mr. Price's room, and when he asked what was wrong, Riku answered that he'd gotten into a fight with Sora about Axel, but then he quickly sent a text afterward saying that that wasn't what he needed Roxas to go to Mr. Price's room about and that he'd misunderstood Roxas' question. Thus, despite Riku's cryptic texts, Roxas showed up like a good boy as promised.<p>

Upon pushing the door open to Mr. Price's room, Roxas spotted Marluxia leaning against a desk near the front of the room with his arms crossed looking down at the floor. Mr. Price was nowhere in sight and neither was Riku. Immediately, Roxas wanted to turn tail and run, but Marluxia had heard him open the door and had turned to face him. His bruise looked like it'd healed a bit, Roxas noticed, and the scratches on his neck were mostly gone.

"Marluxia," the blond said under his breath. He wasn't really sure of how he felt about this whole situation, but he figured Riku probably thought it was time he confronted this, and he trusted the silverette wholeheartedly, meaning he couldn't feel too mad at being fooled.

"Roxas, before you say anything, I just want to apologize," Marluxia spoke up. He'd crossed the room about halfway, but then had stopped and sat on one of the desks. '_Let him come to you, Marluxia. Don't make him feel pressured._'

The blond came closer, sitting in the desk directly next to the one Marluxia was sitting on so that they sat facing each other and their knees touched, which made Marluxia look very relieved. "I'm guessing either Mr. Price or Riku told you about what you did, then?"

The senior nodded. "I swear to you that I didn't mean anything by what I did. I don't really think of you in any sort of romantic or sexual manner. I'm sorry that I scared you and I'm sorry that I overstepped the boundaries of our relationship and I'm so, so very sorry that I didn't stop when you asked. I'd like to say it wasn't my fault, but I knew what was going to happen and I let it happen anyway." He put the knuckle of his forefinger to his mouth and began nibbling. The pose made him look so pensive and thoughtful and so unlike the Marluxia Roxas was well accustomed to.

"What happened, anyway? Why did you decide to try to jump me if you don't actually want me in that kind of way?"

It took a moment for Marluxia to respond. He appeared to be gathering his thoughts together. "Well, I'm in no way excusing my actions, but I just want to explain to you why I acted the way I did. Along with my ability, I also have negative side effects… If I don't use my ability enough, the energy I expend to use it begins to build up. When it builds up, I have to find a way to release the pressure, and sometimes my body will betray me. The build-up can take over me if I don't keep my guard up. When that happens, my body begins trying to release the energy in the fastest and easiest way to do so, which for me, so happens to be through sex. Since I haven't really had sex lately, the pressure's been building. I used to be able to combat it with masturbation, but that isn't nearly as effective as sex. So, when I came onto you, it was because I was looking for a release. I really wanted to help you out, Roxas, so I ignored the risk of losing control of myself because I wanted to be there for you. Unfortunately, I should've listened to my gut. I can't be alone with you like that again. At least not until I can find some way to release a lot of this pressure that isn't through sex. Sorry, Roxas."

Roxas let this information sink in a little bit. "So right now, this is dangerous for me to be alone with you?" He wondered.

Marluxia nodded. "I'm trying so very hard to suppress my urges right now. Vexen has been helping me release the pressure a bit through kissing, but that's still not as effective and one of us has a bit reluctant to do it enough that the energy is brought down to a safer level. I've only gone without sex this long a couple of times, but it's never gotten the better of me. I hope you understand now. Again, I'm really very sorry. I should've used my better judgment."

The blond shrugged. "It was really scary when it happened, but I think I'll be okay. You didn't get further than kissing, so it wasn't too bad. Sorry about the bruises and stuff. I didn't mean to hurt you, I was just trying to get away."

"It's okay, not your fault," Marluxia responded, chuckling. "Anyway, I just wanted you to know why that whole thing happened." The pinkette seemed nervous now, scratching at the back of his neck, playing with the collar of his shirt, smoothing his hair. "I hope we can still be friends."

"Of course we're still friends, Marluxia!" Roxas laughed. "I mean, sure, you scared me and you definitely crossed a boundary, but I was never that mad at you. I'm just glad there's a reason you were acting that way that had nothing to do with you having the hots for me. That would've been extremely uncomfortable," he explained. A thought came to him and he felt bad again. "I hope things are okay between you and Vexen, though?" he wondered.

Marlxia's facial expression hadn't changed as Roxas explained how he felt about the whole event, but his mouth did quirk into a small smile when asked about Vexen. "Well, things were very tense at first when he thought I'd simply cheated on him. Luckily, I managed to explain the situation before he got too angry and we talked it out. It's not like this is something that pleases him, but unless he sleeps with me, there's nothing that can be done. I was fortunate enough to have told him ahead of time that this was one of the drawbacks of my ability before any of this happened. Otherwise, I don't think he would've believed me if I'd tried to tell him after I came onto you," the senior replied.

"Anyway!" The pinkette got to his feet. "I'm gonna head over to the vending machines now. You're free to come with me," he invited with a smile. He turned his head towards Mr. Price's empty desk. "You can come out now, you asshole. We're done here."

Mr. Price's head popped up from behind the desk, making Roxas jump in surprise. Had Mr. Price just been chilling on the floor behind his desk the entire time? The blond wasn't sure what to think of that. He decided to keep quiet as he and Marluxia walked towards the door located at the front of the room near Mr. Price's desk.

As Marluxia moved to pass the teacher, he suddenly diverted course to give Mr. Price a couple of kisses. "See?" He asked as he pulled away, arms out to his sides in demonstration. "Perfect control. Told you I could handle it."

Mr. Price chuckled and adjusted his glasses. "Guess that means we don't need to have sex, then," he taunted.

As expected, Marluxia looked rather scandalized. "Well, I-! Fuck you! I want to do that so bad!"

Roxas cleared his throat. "Just because I know about your guys' relationship, that doesn't mean I want to see it and hear it happening in front of me."

Marluxia frowned and began walking out of the room, Roxas following behind with a grin on his face.

* * *

><p>Over the weekend, Roxas found himself quite bored. Zexion had tickets to a show with Demyx on Saturday night and they spent the whole day together, Naminé had a sleepover with Marluxia and Larxene on Friday night and then said she was busy with schoolwork and art stuff for the rest of the weekend, Axel and Roxas were not to mingle at all outside of school time, enforced on both sides of the arrangement this time, whereas last time Reno had basically dropped it. Thus, Roxas was alone that weekend and spent it at home listening to Sora bitch and complain about a variety of things. One of those things was Sora's relationship with Riku.<p>

It appeared that the brunet was still mad at Riku for siding with Axel all the time. This annoyed Roxas to no end, but he couldn't do anything to make Sora stop complaining so much. Eventually after several passive-aggressive comments about it, Roxas asked why exactly he was so mad. It's not like he really did anything aside from holding Sora back from doing bodily harm to Axel.

"You wanna know why I'm so mad, Roxas?" Sora had demanded. He'd seemed angry, but his thoughts betrayed him and he deflated almost instantly after his demand. "Because Riku always sides with Axel on everything. I thought Riku was my best friend but he totally doesn't make it seem that way anymore. I don't know. Things with him are different. Not just because we're dating, though. It just seems like he cares less. I thought you were supposed to care _more_ about a person when you're in a relationship with them. I don't know. It just hurts," Sora confessed. He'd honestly seemed very hurt by it, and Roxas couldn't fault him for that.

Unsure of what to do or say, Roxas just spouted off some cliché lines and turned his attention back to the TV. He just didn't have the energy to do anything more.

Overall the weekend was shitty. Nothing good happened.

Monday was a different story.

* * *

><p>The waiting room at Mrs. Bates' office seemed different on this day for some reason. Maybe it was the lack of people waiting with them, or maybe it was the fact that they were waiting at all. Whatever it was, Roxas felt something was up. When his family was called into Mrs. Bates' office, the blond couldn't say he was too surprised when he spotted Riku sitting there in the middle of the couch. He could not say that for the rest of his family.<p>

"What the fuck is _he_ doing here?" Cloud practically snarled at Mrs. Bates, gesturing with his thumb towards Riku.

Mrs. Bates smiled at Riku before her face went serious again. "Well, he contacted me, actually. Said he was dating Sora and thought it'd be helpful if he came in and had a chat with everyone. I couldn't disagree. This is a wonderful opportunity for your family to resolve some of its issues."

"I'm not paying for this shit! I'm not going to deal with this!" Tifa growled. She grabbed her husband by the arm and made to walk away, but was stopped by Sora standing in their way and giving them the stinkeye.

"Why won't you just give him a chance? Why won't you just give _me_ a chance to be myself?" Sora's voice was very serious.

"How does he even know about all of this?" Tifa demanded, gesturing wildly to the air around them.

Sora scowled at her. "Because I told him about all of this, duh! He's my best friend. I tell him everything." His arms were crossed and it was very clear he wasn't going to take no for an answer.

"Come on, assholes, Riku's not that bad. He's actually a really nice guy, despite the fact that he wants to bang your little angel," Roxas joined with a grin firmly planted on his face. Riku's forehead gave no clear indication as to why he was actually here, but Roxas was sure the silverette had some sort of angle he was trying to work. Riku was far from being an idiot, so if he thought something was going to work out in some way, Roxas was sure that it would.

"Please, sit down everyone," Mrs. Bates commanded lightly.

Everyone did so, Tifa and Cloud huffing as they sat in separate lounge chairs. Sora and Roxas joined Riku on the couch, Sora immediately wrapping his arms around Riku's waist. For someone who was supposed to be pissed at Riku, he didn't seem pissed off at all. Maybe it was just a show for his parents so they could physically see their relationship.

"Wonderful. Now that we're all seated, does anyone have a problem with foregoing our typical rundown of the previous session? I feel there's a lot to talk about today, so if it's alright with everyone else, I'd like to skip it," Mrs. Bates explained, seeming rather positive today due to the prospect of more progress than usual. When no one made to speak, she continued on. "Well then, that's excellent. Mr. Gallagher, you mentioned you had something you'd like to talk about." She looked expectantly at the silverette.

All eyes turned to Riku, but he didn't seem fazed by them at all, running his fingers easily through Sora's hair. "I know there are a lot of things going on right now, and Mr. and Mrs. Strife," he turned his gaze to the Strife parents, "I know you're worried and scared for Roxas and Sora because they're gay. You both liked me before you knew Sora was gay or that we were dating, so I know I'm not the problem here. I can't help you come to terms with the fact that your sons are gay, especially since that's really something between you all. But I know that all of you, except for Roxas, have a problem with Axel, who is Roxas' boyfriend by the way," the silverette explained offhandedly to Mrs. Bates. "Since you all have a problem with Axel, I just want to talk about him. I want to explain to you all _exactly_ the kind of guy Axel is since none of you know him very well. I want you to know exactly the kind of guy Roxas is dating and I think I can explain it in a way that Roxas would never be able to," he explained.

Sora had pulled away from his boyfriend at the first mention of Axel and was staring at him intently as if trying to determine whether there was some sort of trick or game Riku was playing.

Roxas himself was honestly a little worried. He really trusted Riku, so he had no reason to lie. Why would Roxas not be able to describe Axel better than Riku? And what did Riku mean by 'exactly the kind of guy' he was? It seemed everyone was curious about this, even his parents who seemed less than pleased, but more than willing to listen.

Riku cleared his throat a bit before he continued talking. "I first met Axel over a year and a half ago. We had some mutual friends, including my cousin and Demyx, but we'd never really talked or interacted or been introduced to each other. One day when I was a sophomore and he was a freshman, he came up to me demanding to know my name. We made introductions ourselves and we became friends eventually towards the end of that school year. At the time I was going through a really dark period. See, because my brothers had graduated high school that year, and well, I guess it's kind of complicated to explain, but when you're the younger brother to triplets of a major head in the medical industry, you tend to get pushed to the side a lot and ignored by everyone. I guess you could say I was starved for attention all my life and developed something of an inferiority complex when it came to my brothers.

"On top of that inferiority complex, I had to deal with my father's expectations. He didn't give me a lot of attention, but he definitely had high expectations of me growing up. I started getting antsy wondering if he even cared at all about my well-being or just my grades and accomplishments. So I decided to put it to the test." Riku paused for a long while. He appeared to be gathering the courage to say what he wanted. Sora was rubbing at his back, trying to comfort his boyfriend.

"So I started doing drugs."

If anything was making noise before, it had stopped. The air seemed to have halted with that confession. Nobody spoke. It was obvious when Riku cleared his throat.

"It wasn't much at first. I started with smoking a lot of marijuana. Just to see if my family would notice a difference. They didn't. So I hoped that when my brothers graduated high school and were out of the house, my parents would finally pay attention to me. I was wrong about that because then they decided to take in my stupid cousin Fuu because she'd been kicked out of so many schools in her family's area that they needed find her a school she could still go to. So my parents shifted their attention from my brothers to my cousin."

"So you started doing even more drugs? Because you didn't get the attention you wanted?" Sora guessed in a cold, monotone voice. He'd taken his hand back and had this stare set on Riku at the precipice of a glare.

Riku turned to look his boyfriend in the eyes and he looked so desperate and hopeless. He gently cupped Sora's cheeks in his hands before he continued speaking. "Sora, believe me, I wanted to stop, but I was so sad and lonely and already addicted. Addiction runs in my family, you know? Zexion'd become an alcoholic if we let him drink any more than he does. Most of my family has gone through addiction of some sort. Just, most of them didn't do coke, okay? The marijuana wasn't enough so I looked for an alternative and decided to start doing coke. I ended up getting addicted and I lost a lot of weight and I just generally looked really shitty. My parents still didn't notice. That's about when Axel began barging in on my private life. Apparently Axel always thought I was mysterious and that was the reason he wanted to get to know me so badly." Riku stopped to chuckle even though his eyes were a little misty by this point.

"Axel found out almost immediately what I was doing. He told Reno about it and they took it upon themselves to rehabilitate me. They didn't tell my parents what they were doing, just that I was feeling sick and didn't want to leave their house. They didn't let me leave their house for almost two weeks. Axel and Reno switched off guard duty over me. They even worked out a schedule of when they'd pull themselves out of school or work or whatever. They kept a close eye on me, never let me out of their sight. They took care of me and they seemed to understand me. I guess Reno's lost friends to drug abuse before, so he felt like it was his responsibility. Regardless, they took such good care of me. They were so kind." Riku was sitting hunched over in his seat, resting his elbows on his knees with a faraway look on his face as if he could see everything.

"After those two weeks, Axel still kept a close eye on me at school and I basically lived at their house for a whole month. They kept their house opened to me even after that, though. They said if I ever felt like I was going to relapse or go through more withdrawal that I should go to their house and they'd take care of me again. Axel and I started dating at some point during all of that. He was so caring and tentative and he never pressured me or got frustrated with me over anything I was going through. He was so supportive and helpful and kind and I felt so guilty, and I still feel so guilty because I'll never be able to pay him back for what he did for me. In fact, it's worse than that." Riku chuckled humorlessly and wiped away a tear that had escaped his eye. "I relapsed at a party and then cheated on him with that stupid bitch that blackmailed me this year. The one who made me date her. That was just over this past summer, so Axel and I were in a weird place for a while. He's still the most important person in my life right now, though. His happiness means the most to me. And luckily after you came into the picture, Roxas, he forgave me because he realized we never would've worked out anyway."

Riku took a moment to pause and let out a sigh. He wiped at his eyes and sat upright on the couch. "And _that's_ the kind of person Axel is." The senior crossed his arms and kept his eyes trained on the floor. "Extremely loving and understanding and unbearably kind."

Everyone in the room remained quiet after that. Nobody really knew how to respond to that huge story. Roxas was so taken by surprise he had no idea what to think.

"Do you understand now why I don't like it when you talk badly about Axel?" Riku asked Sora.

Everyone's focus turned to Sora, who was scowling at the taller boy, but had tears streaming down his cheeks.

Sora hastily wiped at his eyes and glared at Riku. "I get it. He holds this huge place in your heart. Fine, I get it."

"Sora, baby, why are you so upset? Are you mad at me?" Roxas had never seen Riku look so panicked. "Babe?"

In a fairly quick moment, Sora visibly composed himself, eyes closed. And when he opened them, he seemed fine again, except for the hard stare he was giving Riku. "I don't know that I can date someone who has or who has had a drug addiction."

Riku's eyes went so wide and the entirety of his visible skin paled considerably. "Sora, please. I need you…" He tried to put a trembling hand to Sora's cheek, but the brunet slapped it away.

"I think you should leave," Sora said simply.

Without another word or sound, Riku rose to his feet and left the room. The moment the door clicked, Roxas launched himself at his twin, tackling him off the side of the couch.

"You fucking asshole!" the blond screamed, bringing his fists down on his twin as hard as he could. He'd never known so much pure rage. He didn't think he could have housed such a bubbling pit of acid deep within himself, and yet he was bursting at the seams in a way he hadn't before. "Monster!" he shrieked again, but before he could do any more damage to Sora, he felt himself being pulled away from him. "You're a fucking monster, you know that? A fucking _monster_!"

Sora quickly sat up, tears streaming down his face once again before he let out a loud growl and ripped Roxas away from Cloud's grasp to shove him to the floor and kick him hard in the stomach repeatedly before Cloud had restrained him as well. "And just what the fuck do you know, anyway, Roxas? You don't get it!" Sora screeched at his twin.

It took a few moments before Roxas' breath came back to him, but at that point, Mrs. Bates was standing between him and Sora to diffuse the situation. She commanded Roxas to sit in one of the lounge chairs, Sora to sit in the other, and their parents to move to the couch. Meanwhile, Mrs. Bates went to her desk in the corner to retrieve a first-aid kit and some tissues, which was the point where Roxas realized he'd given Sora a bloody nose and also that the blond himself could use an icepack for his hurt stomach.

"What do you have against drugs anyway? Obviously they're bad for you, but why are you so vehemently against them? You're even crazy mad about people smoking pot. Why are you like that?" Roxas questioned as Mrs. Bates handed him an icepack.

"You wanna know why?" the brunet murmured as he held an icepack to one of his swelling eyes and a tissue to his nose. "I'll tell you why." He paused for a long time and a strange sadness clutched at Sora. He seemed so much older in that moment and it contrasted so sharply with the normally-energetic Sora.

"A couple years before we left Destiny Islands, Rikku and I had a friend on Passion Island that we used to visit on the weekends and stuff, since it is kinda far from Tranquility Island. He was in a similar position as Riku; his parents didn't really care about him. Well, he was mine and Rikku's best friend. We loved him so much, and we tried to fill the hole in his heart his parents left, but I guess it wasn't enough. We found him dead one day. He'd overdosed. We'd known that he did drugs, but we didn't know that he would ever… that he could ever…" Sora trailed off, his eyes darting back and forth as if he was frantically thinking. Eventually he closed his eyes. "He was our best friend. He didn't leave a note behind so we think it was an accident. But the worst part… After we called the police to report him, we found out that he'd been lying there for three days. _Three whole days_. His parents didn't see him for three whole days and they didn't think anything of it. He was just lying there on the floor for three days. I-I never told anyone else about it. Rikku didn't either. We never talked about it. We haven't said a word of it since." Sora had his eyes closed still. "I can't lose someone I love again. I refuse to."

Even though Sora's perspective had some merit, Roxas couldn't bring himself to excuse him for his behavior. "Well, you know what, Sora," he hissed, "you're fucking selfish. You can't just react to people like that. You can't just immediately shut someone down after they've shared something deeply personal and painful with you. You have to lend your hand to people and not always shy away like a little bitch because you're scared of getting hurt. No matter what you've gone through, if you make someone feel the way you just made Riku feel, then you are _trash_ and I want nothing to do with you." The more he talked, the angrier the blond got. "I can't do this anymore. I can't be your brother anymore if this is how you treat the people you 'love.'" And with that, Roxas rose to his feet and began walking towards the door.

Roxas half expected someone to stop him, but no one did, so he figured it was okay for him to leave. Immediately after exiting the room, he called Axel while heading down to the parking lot. A little voice at the back of his head told him that calling Axel would yield the best answers and he had a feeling that after what'd just happened, Riku would be with him.

"_Hello?"_ Axel's voice sounded after enough rings that Roxas wondered if he'd answer at all.

"Is Riku at your house?" he wondered.

"_Actually, yeah. He just got here. But, uh, he's not doing so hot."_

"Okay," Roxas said after a moment's thought, "I'm on my way over." Before Axel could respond or argue or say anything, the blond hung up the phone and quickly located his car. He felt personally responsible for making Riku feel better after the shitty thing Sora had just done to him. He spent the journey to Axel's house in complete silence, stewing over what Sora had said and thinking of what he could possibly do for Riku. Since Riku had been there for him when he needed it, he needed to return that favor, so he figured he'd think of it when he got there.

Reno was actually the one to answer the door when Roxas got there, but before he could get out a single remark, Roxas had easily pushed his way inside. He set his course for Axel's room and was not disappointed to find a sobbing, crumpled up Riku clinging to his boyfriend on his boyfriend's bed. Briefly, Roxas made eye contact with Axel, but not for long, because then he was on Axel's bed, too, his arms thrown around Riku from the silverette's back.

The extra pair of arms seemed to startle Riku, but when he turned his head and spotted Roxas, he quickly let go of Axel and tucked his face into Roxas' shoulder and wrapped his arms around the blond.

"I'm sorry Sora's such a shitty person," Roxas murmured into Riku's ear. "He's just a complete idiot when it comes to the people he loves. Please don't worry too much about what he said earlier. I promise you that he loves you more than anything."

The three of them became a pile of cuddles that lasted until long after Riku had stopped crying. At that point, they talked about a variety of things, none of which included Sora.

* * *

><p>Riku stuck closely to Axel and Roxas' group of friends the following day, which nobody really questioned too deeply to Riku's relief. After the previous day, he didn't seem too keen on talking about what'd happened, and Roxas was more than happy to oblige. Even though it was a shitty situation, the blond was still glad he could be there for Riku similarly to how Riku had been there for him.<p>

When Roxas had gone home that night after Riku had fallen asleep in Axel's bed, he hadn't spoken a word to Sora or even really looked at him. Sora didn't seem to mind, or at least he didn't say anything about it. Really, Roxas just hoped he was reflecting on how he'd reacted and that he felt some sense of guilt for what how he'd made Riku feel.

Thinking about everything that had happened recently, Roxas had to wonder if the honeymoon phase of his life was over. Everything had been going pretty well for the majority of his life. Maybe nothing had ever been perfect before, but nothing had ever been so bad before, either. He'd never had to share these kinds of experiences with anyone before and he wondered if this happened to everyone at some point in their lives.

Roxas felt silly and like a shitty 16 year-old boy when he'd laid awake in bed considering whether that was what turned people into adults. He had nothing solid he could compare this to since all he'd really ever known were his own experiences, so he felt dumb trying to qualify this point in his life and trying to qualify life in general. Maybe teen angst wasn't just a myth people liked to exploit on TV and in movies. Maybe teen angst wasn't fake and maybe when he was older he'd have a better perspective on these things and maybe everyone else would, too. He couldn't remove himself from the situation as much as he'd have liked to in order to try to gain some other perspective on things. He couldn't see his parents as caring and supportive and he couldn't see Sora as anything but selfish and naïve. But then he considered that maybe things never really changed. Tifa and Cloud certainly didn't seem to have considered either Roxas or Sora's perspective. So maybe the idea of adulthood was a façade and maybe nobody ever knew what they were doing. Roxas' results at the end of his mental tirade were inconclusive.

That day at school, Roxas tried to keep his mind off of things by focusing on his classes and on his teachers and honestly, it really helped. Even through all of Roxas' absences and distractions as of late, he'd never slipped too terribly much with his grades. Most teachers seemed fairly sympathetic, especially when he'd made the effort to catch up on everything. Still, Roxas' headspace had been largely unoccupied by school lately. So it was kind of nice to find it in himself to shift from thoughts about lines of coke to thoughts about lines of symmetry and lines of _Of Mice and Men_.

After school Roxas decided to go to the library instead of to Demyx's and Sora's swimming practice as he often did. He didn't really want to see Sora again and he also wanted to find that clear headspace again occupied by painless, factual things instead of confusing, wishy-washy feelings-related ones. Riku joined him as well, silent and stoic as when Roxas first met him, a kind, distanced smile on his face.

Roxas tried to focus on his homework as best he could, but he found himself unable to keep from staring at Riku, who was intently eyeing his textbook and periodically writing things down in an open notebook. That clear state of mind left Roxas feeling alright with ignoring his French assignment for the time being. Knowing what he did about Riku now, the silverette looked very different and very deserving of this extra time of contemplation that Roxas had yet to give him.

Firstly, Roxas noticed Riku's beauty. He had an elegant chin, strong jawline, an inoffensive nose, focused, piercing turquoise eyes. His long straight hair looked elegant with its healthy shine and rugged with its layers. His appearance spoke of a well-mannered, reserved gentleman with a mischievous side. This was the thing Roxas had seen up until about a month ago. This cleaned-up, polished version of Riku that Riku himself portrayed and probably wanted people to see. Roxas wondered if, like him, other people could see more than this or maybe they only saw Riku's face.

Riku's aura and general demeanor had been something Roxas gradually understood with time; reserved, unassuming, graceful. He seemed to have everything together. He seemed stable and certain and gentle—a perfect gentleman. Those a bit closer to him probably saw at least this deep, Roxas assumed. What the blond had heard and seen yesterday conflicted so much with this projected aura that Roxas questioned Riku's ability to project an aura so different from his true aura; one much darker and not reserved, but burdened. Cold, unsure, jittery. The blond doubted many realized this separate entity existed. Then again, Roxas found it difficult to determine if Riku's true self was actually the jittery creature he'd seen yesterday at therapy. Sometimes talking about things that have a strong effect on you can overtake your general nature. After all, most of the time Riku was really laidback and easygoing.

In the end, Riku was still a huge mystery to Roxas. The blond couldn't be sure that he really knew the silverette at all. Eventually he just decided to discard his thoughts and just enjoy the beautiful, graceful, calm, collected Riku sitting across from him glancing closely at the words on the pages of his textbook.

"Something wrong?" Riku questioned suddenly, his eyes easily flicking up to meet Roxas' gaze.

Startled, Roxas jumped the tiniest bit in his seat. "Ah… no," he murmured. "Riku, you're really pretty," he said suddenly, surprising himself with his bluntness and also with his abruptness. Immediately, he felt embarrassed, but didn't really want to explain his thought pattern to Riku. Luckily, the senior didn't question it.

Riku just tilted his head a bit and gave Roxas a confused look, but an amused smile. "Thank you."

"Yeah. No problem. I was just kinda thinking about how appealing to the eye you are." Where were these words even coming from? Roxas didn't usually have _this much_ word vomit. Maybe the awkwardness of not knowing how to treat Riku was getting to him.

"Are you hitting on me?" Riku asked with a smirk and a quirked eyebrow.

Immediately, Roxas felt himself flush and he felt extremely flustered. "N-no! Of course not! I was just saying is all!"

Riku just laughed in response before he returned his attention to his studies.


End file.
